Naruto: Between Light and Darkness
by Dragoon321
Summary: A single choice can change many things. It can change lives. It can change worlds. Let us go back and see what one choice would change in the world of Naruto... Rated M for violence and foul language.
1. First Step Toward Darkness

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Prelude: First Step Toward Darkness

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
_"Sample"_ Somone puting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demoninc jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample' **Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

I do not own Naruto and a never will. Enjoy the story, but if you review try to be nice, although I don't mind flamers I won't usually listen to what flamers have to say either. If you want to get a point across use polite criticism or email me. Also, I would like to warn everybody that doesn't like evil styled Naruto fics that this is going to be a little on the evil side, though not strictly evil. Further more, this story will probably have a few minor spoilers, names and stuff like that, if you haven't been reading the manga (for instance you might not know the Fourth Hokages real name, which isn't Arashi btw, a lot of fanfics use that name for him and I have no idea why seeing as it's really the name for the leader of the Fuma ninja clan that Orichimaru commands... see spoilers...) and if you have only been watching the English version of the show, which I hear is wwaayyy behind the Japanese version, it will probably have a lot of spoilers. And last but not least, this first chapter is a test to see what kind of response I get. If enough people like it I will continue the story if not it will most likely be deleted. So if you like it **TELL ME**, even you don't have an account you still can review (at least on my stories you can)! If you don't like then you can tell me why or you can just scowl at the screen, whatever you want. Again enjoy the story and REVIEW, cannot stress that enough. Have a great day.That is all...

- Valley of the End -

Naruto stood on the head of the great statue on the right side of the massive waterfall. On the statue across from him, his back turned, stood Sasuke. This valley marked the end of Konoha's sphere of influence. This was it, Naruto had to stop Sasuke here or it would be too late.

"Sasuke!!" He screamed, the word echoing off into the distance.

Sasuke didn't even glance at him, just began to walking away.

"Are you going to run away from me?" Naruto shouted at him.

Sasuke froze mid stride. For a moment neither moved or said anything. Then slowly Sasuke began to turn around. Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Half of his friends face was marked by his curse seal and his right eye was black and yellow instead of its normal white and black.

"Yo... dobe..." Sasuke called back just loud enough for Naruto to hear him.

For a long time they just stared at each other. Then Sasuke scowled.

"This time it's you?" He asked coldly.

The memory of Sakura crying, begging him to bring Sasuke back, flashed through Naruto's mind and his face hardened into a scowl of his own.

"I told Sakura this too," Sasuke continued, "stop concerning yourself with me."

Naruto's scowl deepened causing Sasuke to start laughing and put his hands on his hips.

"Whats with that look?" He asked mockingly, laughing some more.

Naruto stared at him. He couldn't believe this was his friend. Memories of the times they had together began springing up in his mind. It only added fuel to the fire making Naruto clenched his fists.

"Why?" He asked quietly. "Why? Sasuke!"

His friend's arrogant demeanor dropped into a surprised expression.

"Why have you become like this?!" Naruto shouted at him.

Again the words echoed away. After a moment of the two glaring at each other again Sasuke answered.

"Whatever becomes of me," He said, "how does it have anything to do with you? I have my own path. No matter who it is, I'm not obligated to take orders from anyone."

Naruto scowled at him even more. Just as he was about to say something back, Sasuke continued.

"Let me make it clear to you." He spoke a little louder. "My childish games with you and Konoha are over. Go home."

That hit Naruto like a brick. It... hurt. It felt like he just had a kunai shoved into his stomach. But hurt was quickly replaced by anger. All the sacrifices they had made to get here. Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru, Shikamaru, and Lee. They had all fought just so he could get here. He was not going to let them down.

"Everyone..." Naruto growled. "Everyone risked their lives to catch up to you!"

Sasuke just shrugged. "How nice of them." He turned and began walking away.

Naruto scowled and jumped across the river behind the retreating Uchiha. Sasuke spun around just in time to see Naruto come flying down out of the air at him.

"What do you think your comrades in Konoha are?!" Naruto yelled down at him just as they collided.

They skidded for several feet before finally stopping and Naruto drew his fist back ready to beat some sense into his friend. Sasuke's arrogant grin was all the encouragement he needed. He smashed the Uchiha across the face.

Sasuke just stared at him for a moment before spitting blood on his cheek. Naruto snarled and grabbed Sasuke by the shirt pulling him up to eye level.

"_Comrades_?" Sasuke asked coldly. "Have I become stronger while staying with those _comrades_?"

Naruto recoiled at the words. He couldn't be serous...

"I _am _going to where Orochimaru is." He said with finality.

Naruto grabbed onto his shirt collar tighter and pulled him up farther. Naruto's face was nearly panicked as he stared yelling at Sasuke.

"Orochimaru is the one who killed the Third _and _tried to destroy Konoha!" Naruto shouted in the Uchiha's face. "You really think he'll give you power for _free_?! He just wants your body as a _container_! You might _never _come back! You might _die_!! There's no way I could let you go to a place like that!!"

Sasuke stared up at him for a long moment. Naruto really was his best friend after all. In the back of his mind he heard his brother's voice start speaking to him. 'To unlock the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan you must full fill... a special condition. Your best friend... you must kill him... only then will you be able to kill me...'

Sasuke grabbed his head and growled causing Naruto to draw back slightly.

'I will _not _gain power like you did!' He snarled at his brother's voice. 'I will _not _be like you!'

He shook his head trying to silence it. But the voice wouldn't stop. It told him over and over to kill his best friend if he wanted the power to avenge his clan. It whispered in his head, the voice of the man he hated most in the world. Naruto jumped off Sasuke as he began thrashing around on the ground.

"I refuse..." Sasuke growled seemingly to himself, "to become like you! I will not... follow... in your foot steps!"

"Sasuke?"

"AAHHH!!! Get out... of my... head!!" He screamed.

"Sasuke?! What is it?!" Naruto leaned down next to him, trying to still the thrashing Uchiha.

"GAAGHH!!! Shut up!! SHUT UP!!!" He roared. It was obvious that Sasuke wasn't talking to him. It was like he was arguing with himself.

Naruto did the only thing he could think of. He pulled back a fist and decked Sasuke on the other side of his face. The young man went still for a moment as he recollected his thoughts, then slowly sat up. Sasuke glared at him then looked away.

"Thanks... dobe..." He said grudgingly.

Naruto stared at him. Then smiled nervously again. "Sasuke, please, lets just go home... Sakura-chan is waiting for us and everything..."

"I am going to Orochimaru." He said again and once more Naruto's grin faded. "He can give me the power I need to kill that man."

"Sasuke... I can't let you go..." Naruto started to draw back into a combat stance. "If... if you won't come back peacefully I'll just have to..."

Sasuke smirked at him. "What? Beat me into submission? Do you _really _think that will change anything?" He asked and laughed.

Naruto frowned. "I can't let you go and get killed, Sasuke..."

Sasuke turned away. "Then why don't _you _come with _me _and make sure I don't get killed?"

Naruto stared at him. "Sasuke... why are you doing this?"

"I need power," the Uchiha said and raised his hand making it into a fist, "I need enough power to kill him... I can't get that power in Konoha. The only other way I have of getting enough power to defeat that man is... unacceptable..."

Naruto scowled. "So you just want the quick and easy path is that it?! You _selfish little_..."

Sasuke spun around and scowled at him. "This _is _the hard way, you moron!"

"Oh really and what is the other way? Is it harder then running off like a dog with your tail between your legs?!" Naruto shouted back.

Sasuke grabbed him by the shirt collar. "Yes, it is actually!" He growled. "I would just have to kill you and unlock the full power of my Sharingan." Sasuke's face instantly went from angry to surprised by what he had just said, he hadn't meant to say that.

Naruto stared at him. "What?"

Sasuke released Naruto's collar and looked away again. "In order to unlock the Sharingan's full power you have to... kill your best friend. That was how he got strong enough to wipe out our entire clan. He drowned his best friend in a river and unlocked it's full power." Sasuke glared at Naruto's stunned look. "I _refuse _to be like him. I _refuse _to follow in his foot steps. I will find another way to kill my _dear _older brother. Even if I have to sacrifice my life to do it."

Naruto stared at him for a full ten seconds before he doubled over laughing. Sasuke growled and grabbed him by the collar again.

"What the hell is so funny, dobe?!" Killing Naruto was actually starting to look like a good idea...

"To think that... the great and powerful... Sasuke Uchiha..." Naruto gasped out between laughs, "would sacrifice his life to save _me_... _again_! Oh man..."

Sasuke smirked and dropped Naruto in a laughing heap.

"Ouch..." Naruto said rubbing his head which he had hit upon landing.

"Whatever, dobe." Sasuke said and started walking away again.

Naruto instantly turned serious again. "Sasuke, I still can't let you go."

"How many times are you going to tell me that?" The raven haired boy said in mock disgust. "I told you already, I _am _going."

"But..."

"If you really want to make sure I get back one day you are going to have to come with me," He barked, "and sense I do _not _see that happening any time..."

"How do we get there then?" Naruto asked cutting Sasuke off.

For once the blond had truly stunned him. The Uchiha prodigy just stared at Naruto. He wasn't kidding when he said that the only way he was ever going back to Konoha alive and as himself was if Naruto came with him, but he hadn't expected the blond moron to actually do it!

"You can't be serious, Naruto." He said.

"If you won't come back," The blond said with his classic fox grin, "then I am just going to have to make sure you don't do something stupid and end up dead. I made a promise to Sakura-chan to bring you back in one piece and _I _keep my promises. If you won't come now I'll just have to stick around until you decide to listen to me for once." He walked up to Sasuke and crossed his arms.

Sasuke smiled. "Thanks... Naruto-kun..."

- Several Minutes Later -

A storm was boiling in the sky as Kakashi Hatake landed on the top of the left stone statue. He glanced around once and noted a small blood splatter on the rock. It wasn't big enough to be from a serous injury, more likely just from a hard punch or perhaps a cut. Pakkun was already sniffing around trying to catch the sent of the two boys again.

'Sasuke... Naruto... where the hell are you?' Kakashi thought as he looked out over the valley. He sighed and turned to Pakkun.

"Anything?" He asked.

"I lose them both right here." The ninken said right at the edge of the statue that faced the valley lake. "I guess they must have jumped on top of the water and went that way."

Kakashi nodded and looked out over the water searching for any signs of the two boys. Suddenly a flash of metal caught both of their attention. In the fading light of the approaching storm the small glint could barely be seen.

"_There_!" Pakkun said and sped off toward it with Kakashi right behind him.

They ran across the water at full speed and came to a stop in front of a tree at the border between Konoha and the next country. Stuck on it with kunai were a pair of leaf headbands. Kakashi stared at them for a long time before he finally reached out and pulled them both from the tree. He handed them down to Pakkun to confirm what he was hoping with all his heart wasn't true.

The ninken sniffed each once and his entire body seemed to slump.

"Sasuke-san." Pakkun said quietly and nudged the one in Kakashi's left hand gently, "Naruto-kun." He said when he touched the other.

Kakashi straighted for a moment and stared down at the headbands of his two students. Finally it sank in and he slumped against the tree in defeat.

"Why?" He asked quietly. Pakkun looked up at his master with a sorrowful expression, as sorrowful as dogs can look anyway.

"I fail everyone that counts on me, don't I Pakkun?" Kakashi asked sadly. "Obito, Rin, Minato-sensie, Sarutobi-sama," He bashed his fist, still clutching Naruto's headband, into the tree he was slumped against. "and now I even failed Naruto and Sasuke."

He looked as his loyal ninken with a lost expression. When the dog didn't respond he opened his hands and looked back at the two headbands he was holding. Rain started to fall from the sky. Kakashi turned and looked into the forest ahead. They were both long gone by now, he knew that. He couldn't follow further anyways, it was beyond his village's borders. He clutched the headbands hard for another moment then turned away putting both in his vest.

He took one last look over his shoulder in the direction his two students had gone. Kakashi felt completely and utterly lost. He hadn't felt like this sense Obito had died. He had been wrong it seemed. He hadn't lost everyone that was close to him, at least not until now. He turned away and headed back toward Konoha. He had to report to the Hokage and he needed to tell Sakura what had happened. He wouldn't let anyone else do that, it was his responsibility.

'I am sorry... Naruto... Sasuke... I am sorry I was too late...' He thought dejectedly as he made his way back toward his village...

- A/N -

There it is. Again tell me what you think. REVIEW PEOPLE REVIEW!!! And before anyone asks, yes the first half of this chapter IS an near exact copy of the anime episode (as close as I could get it at least). If you don't beleive me go back and watch ep 128-129 again on youtube. That is all...


	2. Shattered Hearts

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Chapter 1: Shattered Hearts

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"Sample" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"Sample" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
'Sample' Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

Alrighty then I suppose enough people have given positive reviews, faved, and put the story on alert that I will continue it. Now I feel I must take the time to make something clear. To everyone that was fearing (or hoping) this was going to be a yaoi story allow me to sooth your nightmares (or crush your dreams) by saying it will not be a yaoi story. Not only do I not like yaoi myself (no offense to anyone who does, it just isn't my "thing" as they say), but I do not believe I am even capable of writing such a story in a believable fashion. Now then I thank everyone for the favs/alerts/positive reviews and say on with the show. That is all...

- Kakashi's Present Location -

Kakashi sped through the the trees at what he normally would of considered a slow pace. At the moment though his reduced speed was due to the feeling of a massive weight being on his shoulders. He had to take his time, he had to come to grips with his own emotions before he faced the Hokage and Sakura. He was still trying to figure out how he would tell Sakura what had happened.

How was he supposed to tell her without shattering her already cracked heart? Not only had they lost both Sasuke and Naruto, but he had said he could handle it. He had told her to leave it to him and he had failed her too. He mentally added her name to a growing list he was keeping in his head. He really did fail everyone that counted on him.

The worst part about the whole thing was that he still was having trouble accepting that it was true. He just couldn't see Naruto running off to the snake. Sasuke's lust for power certainly left him an easy target for Orochimaru's false promises, but what could have caused Naruto to go along. He must of had reason, but for the life of him Kakashi couldn't think of one.

In the distance he spotted the gates of Konoha coming into view. He frowned behind his mask and just as he was about to run through, he skidded to a stop in front of two very surprised chunin guards.

"Kakashi-san?" One questioned.

"Where is Hokage-sama?" He asked.

The guards looked at each other. "In her office I would imagine..."

Kakashi turned and sped off in the direction of the Tsunade's office. The sooner he got there the sooner he could get this off his chest. It took him less then two minutes to cover the distance of the whole village and arrive at the building. He didn't even bother with the door, he just jumped up to Tsunade's office window and knocked on it. After a second a very annoyed Tsunade opened the window and scowled at him.

"Kakashi I realize that Sarutobi-sensie didn't mind you just popping up out of the blue, but I..."

"I need to speak with you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said somberly.

Tsunade stared at him for a moment before nodding. It wasn't often Kakashi sounded so grave, he tended to be rather detached. She could only assume something bad had happened on his little self proclaimed mission.

"Very well." She said and moved so he could come in.

For a few minutes he simply stood by the window he just climbed through as if trying to figure out how to say something. She wasn't in the mood for his games, nor did she have the time. Most of the genin team that they had sent out after the Uchiha brat had been recovered and at least two of them were in critical condition. She was needed at the hospital and she couldn't waste her time standing around.

"Well?" She asked after finally losing patience.

He looked up at her. "You may want to sit down for this, Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi," she said with a scowl, "I do not have the time to..."

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment. 'Might as well just spit it out.'

"Sasuke is gone..." He began.

Tsunade sighed and started rummaging through some papers on her desk. "I figured as much when the medical teams returned with most of the genin we sent in bad shape..."

"And so is Naruto." He finished.

'And there it is.' He thought and opened his eyes to see her reaction.

Tsunade froze. She slowly looked up at him, disbelief plainly evident in her eyes.

"Kakashi if this is some kind of joke..." She said quietly. It was obvious that was exactly what she wanted it to be.

"They are both gone." He repeated in a subdued voice. "Naruto went with Sasuke. Or at least as far as I can tell he did. There were no signs of a real struggle and..." Kakashi reached into his vest and pulled out Naruto and Sasuke's head protectors, "I found these at the border. They were stuck to a tree where anyone who had followed to that point could easily find them."

He slowly set the two leaf headbands on her desk. Tsunade stared at them for a second before collapsing into her chair.

"No..." She whispered, "Naruto-kun, no..."

"I am sorry, Hokage-sama, but..."

"You're lying..." She looked at him, "You have to be. Naruto would never... he wouldn't..."

She was on the verge of breaking down, Kakashi could see it.

"Hokage-sama..." Kakashi took a step towards her.

"NO!" She practically screamed and stood up knocking the desk over in the process and sending papers and other various objects in every direction. "You _are _lying! Tell me the truth, Kakashi! Tell me he is in the hospital! Tell me he might not live to see the morning! Tell me you found no trace of him! Tell me anything, but _that_!!"

His shoulders slumped. "Naruto _is _gone, Tsunade." He whispered.

She stood there for a full five seconds trembling, before she collapsed to the floor crying.

"No... please no... not again... please... not again..." She sobbed and reached for Naruto's headband, which had fallen to the floor nearby. Kakashi thought this might happen. To Tsunade it was probably like losing her little brother all over again. It was something she should never of had to relive.

He couldn't say anything to comfort her. He knew he could do nothing but let her come to terms with the lose. He just stood there and watched as his Hokage clutched Naruto's head protector to her heart and cried. He felt completely powerless as he leaned against the wall sadly and waited until she could talk again. He was truly at a loss as to how he was going to break this to Sakura. If Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin was taking it this hard Sakura was going to shatter.

"Why?" She finally sobbed. "Why would he..."

"I don't know." Kakashi stated sorrowfully. "There was no indication as to why. It was like they had planned it together all along. They just left together."

Tsunade shook her head in defiance. "He _wouldn't _do this without a reason! He _wouldn't_!"

"If he _did _have a reason for it," Kakashi muttered, "he left no indication of it and I can't think of one."

The door opened and Shizune walked in. "Tsunade-sama we need you... at the..." Her voice trailed off as she took in the over turned desk, the scattered papers, and a crying Tsunade.

"Lady Tsunade?" She took three steps forward and saw the head protector that Tsunade was clutching. She turned a questioning eye to Kakashi, but before he could even begin to respond the Hokage spoke.

"Naruto is... gone Shizune..." Tsunade whispered.

The dark haired woman stared at the her. "What do you mean gone?"

"He left... with Sasuke... to go to the snake..." The Hokage said the Uchiha's name bitterly and said the word snake with venomous amounts of hatred.

Shizune just stared for a moment before collapsing into a nearby chair. She didn't break down like Tsunade had, but she wasn't far from it either. Kakashi pushed himself off the wall and headed for the door. They needed time...

"Are you going to tell Sakura-chan?" Shizune asked glancing at him. When he nodded she added quietly. "Be careful. She is going to take it hard." He just nodded again.

Once outside he glanced around. He guessed Sakura would be in the hospital waiting for Naruto or Sasuke to show up. He sighed and headed that way. As he approached the building sure enough, he saw Sakura and Ino Yamanaka talking quietly in the courtyard under one of the tall trees that were scattered around the area. He headed their way, unintentionally being almost completely silent. He managed to get close enough to hear what they were saying without getting noticed.

"What do you think happened?" Sakura inquired.

"Something bad." Ino responded. "I have never seen Shikimaru so... emotional before."

"_Emotional_? He didn't even looked upset! He just looked in a hurry..."

"If you knew him as well as I did," Ino said crossing her arms, "then you would know that something was upsetting him."

"Well maybe if he would just let it... Kakashi-sensie!" She yelled and ran up to him after finally noticing him approaching. Ino followed close behind.

"Kakashi-sensei what happened? Where is Sasuke-kun?" The pink haired girl called.

Kakashi sighed and took a deep breath as Sakura stopped in front of him with a hopeful look in her eyes. 'Here goes nothing.' He thought dismally.

"Sasuke is gone Sakura-chan. The team couldn't get him back." He said, trying to sound as normal as possible. The last thing he needed was his own emotions getting into his voice and upsetting her more then necessary.

"Oh... I see..." Sakura whispered and looked down at the ground, but she looked back up a second later. "What about Naruto-kun? Is he ok?"

This was the part he had been dreading. He didn't think anyone really expected a team of genin, no matter how talented, to defeat Orochimaru's personal guards. It had just been a hope, a fools hope perhaps, but still a hope.

"Naruto is..." He saw her eyes widen instantly at the sadness he couldn't keep out of his voice. He cursed himself for not being able to control his own emotions. "Naruto is gone, Sakura-chan."

She started backing away shaking her head slowly. "No..."

Ino who had been standing by quietly this whole time went pale.

"No..." Sakura just repeated again and fell to her knees.

Kakashi started moving towards her, but froze at her next words.

"It's my fault." She muttered just barely loud enough to be heard. "I asked him to go. It's my fault he is gone. Oh Naruto I am so sorry..."

The thing that was really starting to bother Kakashi was that she wasn't crying. It wasn't that she wasn't upset, far from it, but It was like something had snapped in her mind. Just as that thought filtered through his head, his eyes widened in shock as Sakura pulled a kunai from her belt. Before he could so much as move she raised it above her head and arced it down towards her own chest.

"Sakura!!" Ino screamed and tackled the other girl, both wrestling for the kunai.

Kakashi finally managed to get his body to react to his commands and rushed to their side. He grabbed Sakura's wrist in a vice like grip and pried the kunai from her hand. Ino still had the other girl pinned to the ground.

"What the hell are you thinking?!" The blond screamed in outrage.

"My fault..." She muttered again. She stared up at Kakashi with a look of complete defeat. "It's all my fault... I couldn't stop Sasuke-kun... and then I sent Naruto-kun after him... and now... now..." Kakashi almost sighed in relief as tears finally started flowing out of her eyes. Crying was how people dealt with sorrow, if you didn't cry grief would control you. They had just seen what happened when sorrow controlled someones actions.

Kakashi shook his head and released her wrist. "No, it isn't Sakura-chan. Sasuke's ambition consumed him. That was why he left. Nothing short of brute force was going to make him stay. And Naruto... Naruto went of his own free will too. Even if you asked him, I doubt he would of stayed." Of course, he was referring to Naruto going with Sasuke, not Naruto leaving on the mission with the others, but he hadn't even gotten to tell her that much yet. He decided that was a discussion for a later date.

Sakura latched onto the person nearest her, which happened to be Ino, and cried. The blond girl looked at her friend sadly and wrapped her arms around Sakura's shoulders. Again Kakashi could only watch silently as his only remaining student cried her heart out. For a long time no one said anything. The only sound was Sakura's heart wrenching sobs...

- Naruto and Sasuke -

Naruto glared around at the forest. They had been walking for a little over a day now and he was getting sick of these trees. They all looked exactly the same to him and he was sure they were going in circles. He glared at Sasuke.

"So _how _exactly do we know where we are going?" He asked.

Sasuke pulled his shirt collar down a little to reveal the curse mark. "_This _is how, dobe."

"Oh yeah, _great _plan, Sasuke." Naruto's voice was practically dripping with sarcasm. "Lets listen to the weird mark on your neck. It will work perfectly!"

"Shut it, moron, before someone shows up that we really don't want to see." Sasuke shot back.

"Like who?" Naruto countered. "Kakashi-sensei? He can't cross the border and you know..."

"I was talking about any _local _ninjas that might be on patrol around here!" Sasuke snapped. "We aren't in the clear yet, dobe!"

Naruto scowled at him. "We ain't gonna be in the clear until you start listening to me and go home."

"Then we aren't going to be in the clear until Itachi is dead!" Sasuke fumed.

"Guess we'll just have to kill him then won't we? The sooner the better. I want to get back home and have some Ichiraku ramen."

Sasuke grinned. "You do remember him and the shark freak are still after you, right?"

"All the more reason to take him out." Naruto grinned back.

Sasuke started laughing. He couldn't help it. The very idea of Naruto fighting his brother seemed hilarious. Only Naruto could attack someone five or six times stronger then him and still think he could win.

Something moved in the trees up ahead. Without a single word both boys dropped to the ground in the tall underbrush. Sasuke glanced at Naruto who nodded and started moving forward on all fours. Sasuke pulled a kunai ready to attack whoever it was that had found them. Naruto stood up as soon as he got far enough away and sure enough a ninja dropped out of the tree right behind him. Sasuke recognized the man from the chunin exams that took place what seemed like years ago. The white hair and sound uniform could only belong to one person.

"Well, well, well, hello Naruto-kun. I truly wasn't expecting to find _you _out here." Kabuto said with a smile.

"You know, Kabuto-san," Naruto said, turning his head to smile over his shoulder at the sound ninja, "for _seeming _so smart the last time we fought..."

Sasuke put a kunai to the man's throat. "You sure are acting stupid now." He finished the taunt.

Kabuto went stiff. "Sasuke? What's going on here?"

"Lower the weapon from my friend's throat and we might be able to talk. That is, if you do it quickly." Sasuke said, applying a little pressure to the kunai he had on Kabuto's neck.

"Alright! Alright!" The man nearly yelped lowering the weapon. "Don't do anything hasty now."

Kabuto took a defensive step back as Sasuke lowered his own weapon and glared at him. The silver haired man started rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he glanced between the two boys.

"This is going to be a problem. I can see it already." The sound shinobi muttered.

"Did the snake send you?" Sasuke asked coldly.

Kabuto stood a little straighter. "Yes, he did. And you would be wise to call him Orochimaru-sama if you want to live long enough to kill your brother."

Naruto snorted. "Snake. That's all he will get out of me. Snake, viper, serpent, and maybe baka snake on the weekends."

Kabuto looked back at the fox container and sighed. "He isn't going to like this..."

"Do you think we care." Sasuke growled. "Hurry up and get us there."

"As you wish. Follow me..." Kabuto turned and jumped off into the trees, the two boys following behind him. The only thing he could think about was how angry Orochimaru was going to be when the fox brat showed up with him. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed the pair talking quietly to each other. He sighed and looked straight ahead. Nothing to be done about it now...

- A/N -

Alright there it is. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember to review and yes I am going to say that at the end of every single chapter so that maybe you will listen to me. To the people that are reviewing you have my thanks, please continue. That is all...


	3. Snake Nest

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Chapter 2: Snake Nest

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample' **Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

The start of another chapter and I get to anwser some questions/complaints people have for me. (honestly I enjoy it so keep asking if something bothers you) First off Sakura's reaction in the last chapter seemed over the top to most it appears (got a few emails/reviews with polite complaints which I apretaite). I can only respond by asking if they have seen someone go into an emotional shock before, I have and it isn't pretty. The one time I saw it happen, a guy tried to throw himself out a window after hearing his brother had died. Like I said not pretty, so therefore, in my opinion at least, hearing that your first love just became one of your greatest enemies and killed one of your closest friends would be more then enough to send someone into shock (remember Sakura didn't know that Naruto had left with Sasuke, Kakashi left that out, he just said Naruto was "gone") and sense they are in shock logic/reason goes out the window. And second, to the three yaoi fan girls who messaged me about how this should be a yaoi story and how if I want to get any good reviews I better make it one (you know who you are) - WARNING entering rant mode - **EXCUSE ME?! **This is _my _story, _I _decide what it should and should not be! The people who make _polite _suggestion and have small complaints even get to decide what it should be to a certain extent! However, the second _you _try to tell _me _what it should be you lose that ability! You don't like it, read something else! **Got it?!** - Rant concluded - To everyone else who gave polite reviews/messages thank you and enjoy the next chapter. That is all...

- Otogakure -

Naruto glanced around at the village again. It was surprisingly simple. Houses, shops, and apartments all surrounded by a high defensive wall that was still low enough to be hidden in the trees. It didn't look that different from Konoha really. The only difference was the feel. The place felt harsher, rougher, and less forgiving then Konoha. This was a place where the weak died or were used, not like Konoha where the weak were protected.

"Almost there." Kabuto said.

Naruto sighed and glanced at Sasuke again. The raven haired boy hadn't spoken so much as two words since they entered the village. Naruto knew why too. They were being watched. Every street they went down the people would stare at them. Naruto wasn't sure why, maybe they just weren't used to outsiders, but the whole thing was unnerving.

AS they continued down the main street Naruto's acute hearing picked up something that sounded like a giggle from a ways behind them. He glanced over his shoulder and to his utter amazement spotted a group of girls following them. He grinned and nudged Sasuke. When the boy gave him a questioning look he pointed over his shoulder. The Uchiha took one look behind him and scowled.

"What the heck do they want?" He muttered.

"Beats me." Naruto responded.

He heard another giggle and glanced over his shoulder again. He could tell they were talking amongst themselves, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Seems you have some admirers already." Kabuto noted with a grin.

Naruto blinked. "Admirers?"

"Hey, blondie!" He heard one of the girls call in a sultry voice. "Want to have some _fun _with me tonight?"

Naruto turned scarlet at the implications and started walking a little faster. The last thing he needed was a bunch of over aggressive kunoichi chasing after him. Sasuke scowled and started to turn to face the small group of girls to get rid of them.

He was cut off by another one of the girls. "Come on! Your friend can join in too. There is more then enough of us for _both _of you."

Sasuke whipped back around, his face nearly as red as Naruto's. "No shame at all." He muttered in disgust.

"Uh... Kabuto... can we move a _little _faster... I really don't feel like getting raped in the street..."

"Funny that you two picked up a fan club so quick." The silver haired man responded with a chuckle. "Very well, lets pick up the pace."

Kabuto took off at a run with both boys following right behind. Naruto heard one of the girls shout something that sounded suspiciously like "they are getting away" before their voices faded.

"There is something wrong with this place." Naruto grumbled.

"You had best get used to it Naruto-kun." Kabuto said matter of factly. "It's going to be your home for a while now."

"Yeah, right." Naruto declared, glaring at the sound ninja's back. "This place will never be _'home' _to me."

Sasuke nodded very slightly in agreement. This was not home. It was just a training ground to sharpen their skills and increase their power. You could scarcely call a vipers nest home unless you were a viper too.

"I think you may grow used to it after a while." Kabuto shrugged. "I said the same thing when I arrived here."

"A loser like you would call the underside of a rock home as long as you thought you were on the winning side." Sasuke said coldly.

Kabuto went ridged and shut his trap. Naruto never liked the guy, but that had been harsh. The thing was Sasuke was probably right for once. Kabuto had so many false alliances that no matter who actually won the war he would probably be part of the winning side. Heck, even if the sound got wiped out Kabuto probably had a back up plan and would just go and join another village.

They traveled the rest of the way in silence. Finally, after about three more minutes of running down streets at a break neck pace Naruto spotted what looked like a temple complex or something to that extent. It wasn't big really, just a simple one story building. He got the feeling though that it was a lot bigger then it actually looked, perhaps extending underground or off into the forest. Regardless Naruto could instantly tell this building was Orochimaru's lair.

"The serpents den." Sasuke whispered and Naruto nodded.

They skidded to a halt in front of a massive double door entrance with ten guards in front of it. Although at first the guards seemed relaxed, they all tensed when they noticed Naruto and Sasuke. Apparently new comers weren't allowed inside very often.

"Orochimaru-sama is expecting us." Kabuto spoke sternly. "Let us pass."

The guards nodded and stepped aside as they pushed open the massive doors. Naruto noticed they were all wearing outfits like the five sound ninja who had come for Sasuke. The black under garments with a grayish uniform over top all tied up with a large purple rope.

"Whats up with the girly uniforms." Naruto asked Kabuto just loud enough for the guards to hear as they shut the door. He smirked when he heard some of them snarl angrily.

"Elite uniforms." Kabuto explained. "They signify Orochimaru's personal guards."

"Elites? So there's more then just the normal ranking system in Oto?" The fox container questioned absentmindedly as he looked around the inside of the rather bland building. It seemed to be little more then a series of stone hallways and wooden doors with a few torches place at intervals for light.

"Yes. Like other villages we have the standard four ranks: genin, chunin, jounin, and ANBU. However, here we also have an elite division of each, the highest ranked being the Elite ANBUs which get their orders directly from Orochimaru-sama and tend to be the most powerful ninjas in the village."

Sasuke snorted. "I am guessing then that the five who came to get me were elite jounin or ANBU?"

"Hardly." Kabuto laughed."Their strength was no were near that level. The five who came for you were only elite _genin_."

Naruto gapped at the man. That bone freak was only a elite genin? What the heck were the elite jounin like? Better yet, how strong were the elite ANBU?

Naruto shook his head and snapped his mouth shut. "So what are you?"

"Me? I am _technically _an elite chunin, at least in terms of power, though as you can see," Kabuto indicated his rather standard issue uniform, "I am not required to wear the uniform due to my occupation as an intelligence agent. Its just too much of a give away."

"Man..." Naruto mumbled.

"Most elites have had personal training from Orochimaru-sama or Ryuujin-sama." Kabuto continued. "They often are trained in defensive styled fighting, the four who came after you for example were trained for defensive jutsu. Seals, barriers, and things along those lines. Though sometimes you can kill with defensive tactics if the defense is strong enough. The only elites really trained for offensive measures are elite ANBU like Ryuujin-sama."

"Ryuujin?" Sasuke inquired, raising an eyebrow at the name.

"Oh yes, I suppose you have never met him, he wasn't with us during the invasion. Come to think of it none of the elite ANBU were. If he and the others had been there we probably would have won," Kabuto sighed, "but they have other duties besides simple warfare. Ryuujin-sama is the... never mind here we are." Kabuto said and pointed ahead to a pair of large double doors.

Two guards straighted at their approach. They wore the same elite uniform the guards outside had been wearing, but these two seemed more dangerous then all ten of the ones that had been outside. Kabuto was also noticeably less confident this time. That was when Naruto noticed the matching demon masks the two men wore.

'So these are elite ANBU then? They don't look like much.' Naruto thought confidently as they approached. His confidence faded a little when the first one spoke.

"What do you want, Kabuto-sama." The man rasped. His voice seemed frail, but something about it sounded dangerous and despite the honorific Kabuto didn't look like he was going to order these guys to do anything. He didn't look afraid or anything like that, but he was obviously respectful of the threat these two posed.

"I have brought Sasuke-kun as Orochimaru-sama requested. I will leave these two with you." The silver haired man said and turned away to begin walking down the corridor again.

"As you wish." The other man said with a shrug. He was bigger then the one with the raspy voice, but at least he sounded human. "But why are there two? They can't _both _be Uchihas can they?"

"The other one I am sure Orochimaru-sama will also want to see. He will know who they are, they have all met before." Kabuto said over his shoulder as he left.

The big man shrugged again and pushed open the doors. Naruto made to walk in, but the one with the raspy voice stopped him by placing a pale, thin hand on his shoulder.

"Not yet, whelp." He said. "We have to make sure its alright first. Do not worry you will get to see the Great Snake Sannin soon enough."

"I have seen him before and I wasn't impressed." Naruto spoke to the man who's only response was a grating chuckle.

"Two?" An all to familiar voice hissed then spoke loud enough for the guard to hear. "Let them enter."

"Go ahead." The man wheezed with a nod.

Sasuke walked in first with Naruto trailing right behind him. Sitting on a throne like stone chair near the center of the room was Orochimaru himself with the large masked man to his right, arms crossed over his chest. The room they were in seemed almost lifeless. Besides the stone throne and the stone table next to it the room was completely devoid of furniture. Torches on the walls gave off a dim, almost sickly light. The only other source were some candles by the throne that seemed to be something along the lines of incense candles. It wasn't what Naruto had been expecting to say the least.

Orochimaru himself looked like he had seen far better days. His entire body was bandaged from head to foot with medical wrappings and only one of his eyes could be seen. He still wore his uniform though, the same kind the elites wore, but it did little to hide the state his body was in.

"Aaahh Sasuke-kun." The snake sannin stood and began walking toward them with his arms open. "You arrived a little late, but late is better then never."

"That doesn't matter." Sasuke growled. "Hurry up and give me power."

Orochimaru chuckled. "In due time, all in due time. If you stay with me Sasuke-kun, I can give you enough power to crush your brother. I can give you enough power to do anything you want." After his little declaration the snake turned his attention to Naruto and looked him over. He crossed his arms in a thoughtful way as he began to speak. "And Naruto-kun too, truly a surprise. Tell me what is it that the student of Jiraiya wants from me?" Naruto just glared at the man, who laughed. "You remind me of him when we were younger."

"If you want me to stay, he stays." Sasuke said with an air of finality.

Orochimaru just chuckled some more. "As you wish if that is your price." The man smiled behind his bandages. "Besides I would love to have Naruto-kun join our dear little village. Unlike other villages the power of a Jinchūriki is always welcome here. So then that settles it, I am pleased to welcome you both to Otogakure."

Naruto stared openly at the snake sannin. Just like that? No argument? nothing? He was expecting, hoping for really, a full scale fight over this, not "as you wish".

"kukuku... Come now Naruto-kun you didn't think I would turn you away now did you?" The sannin asked.

"Actually I did."

"Then you don't know me nearly as well as you _think _you do. Not everything people say is true you know." The man responded walking closer to them. "hhmm..."

Naruto took a step back. The snake was looking at him oddly and he didn't like it. "What?"

"That outfit does you no good." The man cackled evilly. "Though orange is fitting considering what resides within you."

Naruto growled at the sannin in a feral manner.

"kukuku... No need to be angry with me Naruto-kun. I am just telling you the truth. More then those fools at Konoha ever did." He said with a dismissive wave as he walked back to his stone throne and sat down. "I suppose you will want a tour of your new home. Ras, Tol, find Kabuto and bring him back here. Tell him its urgent."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." The two elite ANBU saluted and vanished in puffs of smoke. A few seconds later Kabuto and the two ANBU reappeared.

"You wanted to see me Orochimaru-sama?" The silver haired man said.

"Yes, take these two to Ryu-kun," As Orochimaru said this the two ANBU went completely ridged, "I believe he may be interested in training them. After Ryu-kun decides if he will or not show them to their rooms and inform all the guards they may go were they please, both within the compound and in the village."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." He bowed and turned to them. "Come on you two." He walked out of the room with Naruto trailing right behind him.

Naruto was all to eager to get out of the snake sannin's sight and the fact that the two ANBU were staring at them in an almost admiring fashion didn't help. That just made him feel uneasy, anything they admired him for was probably not good. Sasuke walked out at a pointedly slow pace following Naruto and Kabuto.

"Looks like we are all stuck together a while longer." Kabuto said as soon as the two doors leading into the throne room swung shut.

"Least you _act _normal I guess." Naruto muttered.

"Who is this Ryuujin that everyone keeps mentioning?" Sasuke asked irritably. This seemed to be the attitude he adopted sense the moment they arrived. Instead of being dark and antisocial he just acted like he was ten seconds from exploding on the next person he spoke to.

"Guess I didn't get around to telling you it before, did I?" Kabuto sighed. "Ryuujin-sama is the commander of the elite ANBU. He is pretty much the strongest ninja in the village besides Orochimaru-sama. He is also kind of a special case in terms of training and time spent living here."

"Eh? A special case? What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

Kabuto frowned in thought as he walked. "Most of the elites are long time residents, ranging from six or seven years all the way up to being born here, Ryuujin-sama hasn't even been here for two years. He wasn't even trained here like most of the elites are, he just wandered in one night and was pretty much given the position within days. It's rumored that he and Orochimaru-sama knew each other from a long time ago, thats why he got the position so quickly."

"And he is gonna be our sensei?" Naruto grinned at the idea. "Cool."

Sasuke sighed. Leave it to Naruto to suddenly switch opinions so quickly. One second he couldn't wait to get out of here and now he couldn't wait to meet their new sensei. He gave Sasuke a headache.

"He will be your sensei if he decides to train you. It's his choice, not even Orochimaru-sama tells him who to take as students." Kabuto gave them an evil smile. "He is pretty picky too, so don't get your hopes up. Aahh here we are..."

Kabuto opened a door and made to step inside only to stop mid stride. There was a second of him standing there staring at something followed by a female scream which was echoed by several others. Right after that several dozen seemingly random objects including bars of soap, combs, kunai, and shuriken came flying out of the doorway. Kabuto managed to dodge all of them except for a short stool which hit him square in the face sending him reeling backwards. A young woman with a towel wrapped around her appeared in the door way.

"Kabuto-hentai!" She screamed and slammed the door.

"What the hell was _that_?!" Naruto, who had fallen backwards when the first wave of objects appeared, shouted from the floor.

Kabuto straighted, pushed his amazingly intact glasses back up the bridge of his nose and shrugged. "Ladies bath house it seems."

Both Naruto and Sasuke sweat dropped.

"The ladies bath house..." Naruto pointed at the older man in outrage. "You did that on purpose didn't you?!"

"Course not!" He affirmed and turned back down the corridor they just came from. "This way. I think I took a wrong turn some where."

"Why is it," Sasuke muttered in disgust, "no matter where we go there is always, _always_, a pervert with white hair?"

"I am not a pervert." Kabuto defended himself. He took a right leading them in a different direction.

"Why the hell did that girl call you 'Kabuto-hentai' then?!" Naruto fumed.

He just shrugged again. "Probably because she was the one I was staring at..."

Both younger boys dead panned.

'Not a pervert my ass...' They thought at the same time.

"Well then do you want to check to see if its the right door this time?" Kabuto asked sarcastically, pointing to a door on their left.

"Oh, no!" Naruto backed away. "I ain't getting hit in the face like that."

Kabuto smirked, walked up to the door, opened it and stepped inside. After a second Naruto and Sasuke followed. This certainly wasn't a bath house.

The first thing Naruto noticed was the room's size. It was huge. He couldn't even guess how large it was, but it easily could have fit over a hundred people with plenty of space to spare. The next thing he noticed was the fact the room looked like it had seen its share of heavy combat. It had burn marks, slashes, craters, and other various signs of heavy battle all over. This had to be a training area for very powerful ninja.

The last thing he noticed was the single figure standing in the center of the room with his back turned to them. The man was tall, probably around six feet and his night black hair was long enough to reach the middle of his back. His features were mostly hidden by a large black cloak similar to the kind he had seen Itachi and the shark freak wearing. Instead of the red and white cloud patterns though a single red multi headed serpent wrapped its way around the man's cloak.

"Ryuujin-sama..." Kabuto began, but cut off as a massive wave of killing intent washed over them.

Naruto felt his legs nearly give out from under him, which was probably a good thing, if he wasn't so sure he would fall at the slightest movement he would have been running. He glanced at Sasuke to see if he was handling it any better. The Uchiha looked to be standing just fine at a glance, but his eyes were wide with fear and his stance said he wanted to run for it. Even Kabuto took an involuntary step back. He couldn't see the silver haired man's face, but Naruto guessed he had the same expression they did.

"What do you want, Kabuto-san," The man's voice seemed devoid of any emotion, "and make it quick, I have other business to attend to..."

- A/N -

REVIEW! I thank everyone that is faving and putting the story on alert but I really want to hear your thoughts on it. If you can't think of anything overly interesting to say thats fine, just tell me I am doing a good job or another generic review comment. Come on people authors like to be told they are doing a good job! Support the authors, write reviews! That is all...


	4. Trial of Blood

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Chapter 3: Trial of Blood

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample' **Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

Alrighty then to answer a few reviews first.

Lord Kamikage - I am not telling, you will find out sooner or later. Sasuke's comment referred to both Kakashi and Jiraiya. I am not telling you if any of the Sound Five survived, again you will find out sooner or later (probably sooner). Thank you for the complement. And I love reading long reviews so feel free to write another one later.

Darnod - The reason the elites didn't join in on the fight was a tactical one that will be explained later. If you play RTS games like Command and Conquer or have looked at basic military tactics you might already know the reason and not realize it.

monkygodkiler - Agreed. I think we all know Kabuto is a pervert off screen.

grey o mage - I have no idea honestly. I guess you will find out later.

ofdarkneeschaos - As per your request here is the next chapter.

To everyone else who reviewed you have my appreciation now on with the show. That is all...

- Otogakure, Elite Training Room -

For a moment no one said anything. All of them just stared at the man's back and he continued to stand there unmoving. The room literally seemed dead. Finally Kabuto seemed to recover his composer.

"Ryuujin-sama, if you do that _ever__y _time someone walks in this room then you are going to start scaring away the new recruits." The silver haired man said as he began walking forward again.

"If they are so easily frightened," The man's emotionless voice spoke, "then they have no business being here."

"Yes, well," Kabuto muttered annoyed at the fact Ryuujin thought the massive waves of killing intent he could unleash should be easy to resist, "I have brought two students that Orochimaru-sama wishes you to train."

The man turned around finally and looked them over as they did the same to him. He kept his arms crossed, his hands apparently inside the sleeves of his cloak. They really couldn't see anything but the upper part of his face, everything below his nose was covered by the cloak including his mouth. What they did see startled them however.

His skin was apparently almost corpse pale. Two purple marks ran from the hairline near his ears down the line of his jaw disappearing into the cloak. His black hair was parted to one side so that only one of his eyes could be clearly seen. That one eye was a startling golden color with a snake like slit for a pupil. Instantly Naruto and Sasuke could see the similarity between this man's appearance and Orochimaru's, they could have been brothers or cousins. The man's features weren't nearly as sharp as Orochimaru's however, and instead of having a viper like appearance the less angular facial features gave him more the look of a boa or python.

"Orochimaru's wishes are not my concern." He stated flatly. Both Naruto and Sasuke grinned at the man's obvious disregard for Orochimaru's interests.

Kabuto stiffen. "But..."

As the two continued talking something else clicked in Naruto's head. This man wasn't wearing the elite uniform, a mask, or even a sound headband. In fact, besides his serpent like appearance there was nothing to link him to the Sound Village at all. If he hadn't know better Naruto would have guessed he was an unaffiliated ninja or a nukenin.

"If they want to be trained by me," He continued over Kabuto, "they will have to be tested."

Kabuto sighed. "Surely you can sense their power..."

"Power is not something I consider when selecting my students Kabuto-san." Ryuujin stated dryly.

"Then _what_..." Kabuto tried to question, but was cut off.

"Tell me your names." The man asked seeming to decide that Kabuto was no longer a concern.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said without hesitation.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said only a second later.

"I am called Hisaki no Ryuujin." The man stated emotionlessly. "Tell me why do you seek to be trained by me? What do you want with the power I can give you?"

"I'll use it to kill..." Sasuke began, but Ryuujin raised a hand and silenced him.

"I did not ask what you would use it for I asked what you wanted it for. There is a critical difference between what one wants and what one will do."

Naruto spoke first this time. "To protect that which matters most to me." He said simply. He noticed Kabuto glaring at him out of the corner of his eye, but Ryuujin only nodded.

"And you?" He asked.

"To avenge my clan." Sasuke said.

Ryu nodded again. "If you did not have a reason or if you had lied, I would turned you down immediately." He seemed to think for a moment. "An avenger and a defender. An unorthodox yet dangerous combination." He began walking towards them.

"Tell me how far are you willing to go to accomplish those ends? Would you kill? Would you kill to avenge?" He looked at Sasuke. "Would you kill to protect?" He looked at Naruto. "Would you kill even those you knew, those you considered friends, if it meant getting what you desire?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, but Naruto hesitated. "I..." Ryuujin regarded him with his cold serpent eyes.

"If you are not willing to kill," He said, "even someone who you consider a friend then you can never accomplish your goals, at least not as a ninja, regardless of what they may be."

"How can killing a friend possibly help me protect them?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Can you not think of a reason?" The man asked. When Naruto gave him no response he continued. "Then think of Orochimaru and you will find one."

Naruto blink in surprise. Even Kabuto looked at him in slight shock.

"Orochimaru left his village, abandoned it, became a nukenin. He managed that only because the ninja sent after him was unable to kill him. He was unable to kill Orochimaru because they were friends, because he was _unwilling _to kill him not _incapable_. Because of this the very village Orochimaru left, the village that ninja was trying to protect, was nearly destroyed years later. If that ninja had been willing to kill Orochimaru, if he had been willing 'to protect that which mattered most' to him at any cost his village would have been spared great suffering."

Naruto stared. The only person in the leaf that had ever been Orochimaru's friend as far as Naruto knew was Jiraiya. Did that mean...

"If Jiraiya of the Sannin had killed Orochimaru," The man continued in his ever emotionless voice, "he could of protected that which mattered most to him, but he could not and we have seen the results. The folly of others is often a lesson in itself."

Naruto stared a second longer, then his face hardened and he nodded slowly.

"Good." The snake eyed man stated with a slight nod. "You both have potential, I can see it in you, however if you wish to be my students there is one final test." He turned and began walking towards the middle of the battle marked room. He stopped, roughly in the center and turned to face them. Small spikes of killing intent radiated from him.

"And that would be?" Sasuke asked. Kabuto was suddenly shifting uncomfortably.

"You must fight me and complete a specific objective." He answered.

"Ryuujin-sama, please that is out of the..." Kabuto began.

"Be silent." Ryuujin said still emotionless, but Kabuto's mouth snapped shut instantly regardless. "This is none of your concern." He turned back to Naruto and Sasuke. Judging by Kabuto's discomfort Naruto had a feeling that it was indeed his concern. "If you succeed in your objective then I will take you as my students if you fail I will kill you both. The choice is yours." As he said this another large wave of killing intent washed over them. It left little doubt that he would do exactly what he said if they failed.

"What's the objective?" Sasuke asked in a slightly shaky voice.

"You will find out only if you accept." Was the response.

They stared at him. Then they looked at each other. Sasuke nodded and Naruto gave him a weak grin. Kabuto instantly went pale when he realized what they were going to say.

"Alright." They said together.

Naruto couldn't tell be he thought he saw the faintest hint of a grin in Ryuujin's eyes.

"As you wish." He said. "Your objective is to kill me."

They both stared at him in shock.

"Kill..._kill _you?" Naruto muttered.

"Indeed. If you cannot accomplish this I will kill both of you instead. Do you understand?"

"No!" Sasuke growled. "If we kill you how can you teach us anything?!"

"You will find out _if _you succeed. Do you understand your object?" He asked again.

They both nodded. Kabuto was visibly shaking, in anger or fear Naruto couldn't tell.

"Then you may began whenever you are ready. Seeing as you are both relatively young I will not use any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or weapons."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other. Then looked back at their opponent determination evident in their eyes. Kabuto reluctantly headed for one of the walls so as to be out of the way of the fighting.

Naruto instantly made a hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Dozens of Naruto clones appeared in the area. Sasuke quickly maneuvered around behind them making sure Ryuujin couldn't see him. As he did he activated his Sharingan.

"Shadow clones. Impressive." Ryuujin stated. He waited patiently for his two opponents to make the first move.

Five of the clones attacked throwing shuriken at the man from every direction while five more jumped in the air to attack him from above with more thrown weapons. Ryuujin didn't even blink as the weapons sped towards him, in fact he wasn't even moving to get out of the way. At the very last second he bent in what up until that moment Naruto thought was an impossible manner for anything with a backbone and dodged the first five weapons which zoomed over the man and hit five of his own clones. Ryuujin straightened and moved in a serpent like manner to bend out of the way of the five other weapons which hit the floor around him with a clanking sound.

"Not an impressive use of them however. If you pass we will have to work on that." He said as he straighten again.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted from behind the wall of Naruto clones. The massive ball of fire consumed several of the clones and went right for its intended target. Ryuujin raised an eyebrow at the fire blast, then did a front flip right over it. He came down with an aerial axe kick aimed right at Sasuke's skull. The Uchiha barely managed to roll out of the way as the golden eyed man's foot slammed into the ground, cracking the solid stone floor. It wasn't anything compared to Tsunade's super strength, but it probably would have killed him if it had connected with his head.

Before Sasuke could stand up Ryuujin rushed him from the left aiming a spinning kick at his rib cage. At the last second a Naruto clone jumped in the way and blocked the blow, disappearing in a cloud of smoke and shrouding Sasuke from view. When the smoke cleared the Uchiha had disappeared into the clones again.

"Hhhhmm... Perhaps I spoke too soon. Very well, impressive tactical use and poor combat use."

He spun around and back handed a clone that had tried to stab him in the back sending it flying into a small bundle of others all of which disappeared with a pop, then he bent oddly again to dodge a pair of shuriken that had come from his left. Naruto growled in frustration as another five clones who had been attempting to surround Ryuujin while he was distracted disappeared in puffs of smoke when the man did a spin and smashed his elbows into their skulls. The guy was apparently a very good taijutsu user.

Suddenly he lunged forward and slammed shoulder first into a clone then seemed to almost bounce off of it just as it disappeared and slam his foot into another's stomach. He "bounced" off this one in a spinning motion and slammed arms and legs into clones as he went flying by only to come to a skidding halt a few inches from were he had started. Naruto growled again. He had just lost thirty clones to what appeared to have been a single maneuver. That was not a good sign.

He glanced at Sasuke who raised a single hand and grinned. Naruto grinned back and summoned a single clone next to himself. He raised his hand and the clone began channeling chakra into a spinning motion in his palm. In seconds he had form the Rasengan and Sasuke had his Chidori readied. The clones disappeared in puffs of smoke as Naruto dismissed them shrouding the area in a veil of fog. Together they both rushed the patiently waiting Ryuujin.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

Ryuujin gave them a slightly startled look and leaped straight up in the air. Both boys stumbled and slammed their attacks into the floor as they missed their intended target. Said target landed lightly behind them and dropped into a leg sweep almost instantly. Naruto jumped out of sheer surprise and managed to barely dodge the maneuver, but Sasuke wasn't so lucky. The sweep knocked him off his feet and before he even hit the floor an open palm connected with his chest and sent him flying. He skidded to a stop nearly ten feet from where he had hit.

"Damnit!" He muttered as he stumbled to his feet. He had noticed something off about Ryuujin when he got hit though. The blow had felt solid, but the flesh behind it felt odd. It had felt like being hit by so sort of congealed goo. He hadn't felt bones or even muscles, just a squishy feeling that was still solid enough to hurt. It just added to something that was bothering him in the back of his mind the entire fight.

Sasuke's eyes snapped wide open as he realized what about the man seemed wrong. His Sharingan saw it easily after he actually realized what was bothering him. The man's chest was rising and falling as if he were breathing, but the dust in the air in front of his nose and mouth wasn't moving. The air currents in the room, although slight, still shifted his and Naruto's hair and cloths barely enough for his eyes to detect, however even with the Sharingan he couldn't see that on Ryu. His eyes seemed almost completely devoid of thought and though Sasuke could believe the man didn't have emotion he was obviously thinking. This could only mean one thing...

"Naruto its a bunshin!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto stared at the Uchiha. "What?!"

"Its some kind of bunshin!" He shouted again.

"Very good." Said Ryuujin's emotionless voice, but it came from Kabuto's direction.

They all whirled around. Standing not three feet behind Kabuto was what appeared to be the actual Ryuujin. The silver haired sound ninja's shock expression said that he hadn't even realized the other man was standing there. The clone brought their attention back to it by speaking, cutting their surprised exclamations off.

"However," It said, "your objective remains the same. Destroy me and you pass, fail and you die."

Naruto scowled. They had been fighting a clone this entire time! It was just a clone and it was kicking their asses!

"You have to be kidding me! You're just a clone?!"

"Correct." It stated. Before they could further question it, the clone lurched forward toward Sasuke. The bushin, now apparently uncaring if they knew it wasn't human, reach out farther then its arms should have allowed and connected a solid punch with Sasuke's chest. The impact sent him skidding back a few feet trying to regain his balance. Just as the thing tried to pull back for another punch, Naruto summoned more shadow clones and attacked it from the side.

Finally caught off guard, the clone took five shuriken to the head. Sasuke sighed in relief figuring the clone would vanish. Much to his surprise it just started pulling the shuriken out of its own head! As it did he could plainly make out blood dripping from each one.

"What the hell kind of bunshin is that?!" Naruto asked.

"A powerful one." Sasuke said as he stood up. "Haven't you noticed the odd feel of it when it hits your clones?"

"Yeah, like an old sponge that has dried up and gotten hard." Naruto shivered.

Sasuke nodded. "So it is probably made out of some kind of liquid. Remember the water clones Zabuza used? They felt like that."

"So how do we beat it then?" Naruto asked keeping a wary eye on the bunshin which was still dealing with Naruto's own clones.

"It has to have a chakra limit, right? We just have to wear it down and it should break."

"Right." Naruto grinned, but the grin became a frown after he thought for a second. "What if it's chakra limit is higher then ours? I mean it isn't using much just doing taijutsu and we have had to use every trick in the book just to keep alive..."

Sasuke scowled. He hadn't thought of that. Then got an idea after he thought for another second. "Guess we just have to destroy it then."

Naruto blinked. "How?"

Sasuke smirked. "Your Rasengan. It works like a chakra whirl pool right?" Naruto nodded. "Then if it hits it, the spin should rip the clone apart."

Naruto nodded with a triumphant grin. "Like a blender. No wonder it jumped so high to dodge it last time. Now we just have to hit it."

Sasuke nodded, but frowned. 'That was defiantly going to be harder then it sounded.' He thought for a second. 'Or was it.' There was a particularly loud pop and they looked up just in time to see the last ten of Naruto's shadow clones disappear in clouds of smoke. The bunshin set it's sights on them again.

"Can you make some more clones, Naruto?"

"Oh yeah! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" More Naruto clones appeared as the odd Ryuujin clone advanced on them. They all charged it again, all but one that stayed behind next to Naruto. As soon as the clones engaged the other bunshin Sasuke saw puffs of smoke as it began destroying them. He turned to Naruto, they didn't have much time.

"Alright here is a plan. I am going to charge it with my Chidori, judging from last time it will probably jump and try and hit me from behind. That's your opening to hit it with the Rasengan." Naruto nodded in agreement as Sasuke finish and instantly the two began charging their attacks.

As soon as his was ready Sasuke launched forward at a break neck speed for the bunshin. It glanced at him and just as predicted jumped into the air over his head. Sasuke couldn't help smirking as it landed behind him just like before and went for a spin kick aimed at his head. Sasuke turned around just in time to see Naruto's Rasengan slam the clone in the back. Sasuke's triumphant smirked was short lived, it became a horrified grimace as blood literally sprayed every where.

'Had it not been a bunshin?' He thought in horror as the thing was literally ripped apart by Naruto's jutsu. Blood, more blood then any thing that was alive had a right to have, sprayed in every direction.

The Ryuujin standing with Kabuto began walking out toward them. He glanced them over once with an amused look. They were both drenched in red from the thing they had just killed.

"Very good. You managed to destroy it." He said as he glanced around at the carnage. "Impressive."

"Wha... what the hell," Naruto stuttered in a shaky voice trying desperately to ignore the smell of human blood in the air and the feel of it on his skin, "was that?"

"A bunshin as your friend pointed out." Ryu responded dryly. "A blood clone to be exact."

"_Blood _clone?" Sasuke asked in disgust.

"That is not strawberry fruit juice you are covered in is it? I assure you it is blood." Came the slightly amused response. Both boys were sure that was the equivalent of anyone else laughing hard enough to break a rib.

"It's... it's _human _blood though." Naruto said in a wavering voice.

"It is my blood actually." Ryu responded dryly once more and looked around. "I suppose I had best clean this up."

He made an odd hand seal.

"Chishio Misuto no Jutsu!" He called. Instantly the smell of fresh blood magnified greatly even though the blood on their cloths and on the ground began to vanish. At first Naruto didn't know what was happening to it until he felt the damp feeling of mist in the air. Naruto's eyes widened when he released what Ryuujin's jutsu was doing and soon the air was tinted a reddish color. Naruto shivered as a fine mist of cold human blood drifted in the room.

Ryuujin made more hand seals. "Chishio Bunshin no Jutsu!" The blood in the air began to condense into a blob like mass. The mass began to take shape, sprouting arms and legs as more of the blood was absorbed and soon the same clone they had just fought stood before them once again. "You are dismissed."

The clone nodded and headed for the door. It glanced over it's shoulder at them and nodded to itself as it left to go who knows where. The smell of blood that Naruto had not noticed until then went with it.

Naruto shivered again. "That is simply disturbing."

"Indeed? Well you had best get used to him. It took me several months to collect enough of my blood to create Rya and I certainly am not getting rid of him just because two of my students are disturbed by his substance." The man said his voice returning to its normal emotionless tone as he regarded them.

Naruto blinked in surprise. He had actually forgotten they had just passed their test. He couldn't help grinning as he looked up at the snake like man who nodded and turned to Kabuto.

"You may inform Orochimaru I will train them, if they still wish me to." Kabuto nodded. He looked so relieved he seemed to want to fall over. He turned to leave, most likely to tell Orochimaru the results, when Ryuujin stopped him. "However, before you go I have other business I wish to discuss with you."

Kabuto turned back still in a good mood. "Of course Ryuujin-sama. What is it I can help you with?"

"Tell me what has happened to the five that Orochimaru sent after Sasuke-san?" Kabuto's relieved faced instantly turned ghost white at the man's words. "What has happened to my other students?"

- Kakashi -

"You're sure there were five of them?" Kakashi asked again as he looked over the huge expanse of bone spikes that covered the area. This section of the forest was completely destroyed, no doubt about that. Between the sand and bones nothing would be growing here for a long time.

"Yes," Shikimaru said sullenly. "at least that we saw. This one showed up last."

The "one" he was referring to was a demonic looking man that was half entombed in one of the bone spikes. His right arm was a massive spear of bone as well. Apparently it had been his blood line trait, at least according to both Gaara and Lee. He was the only one they had found however. The others had probably been removed by the sound village to preserve any secrets their bodies might harbor. This one had been left because it was obviously impossible to move him. He would be here for years. A grave of shifting sand and lifeless bone.

Kakashi sighed. "We will assume they were all killed then. Judging by the descriptions from the rest of your team and Gaara's all of them died in the battle."

"Yeah." Shikimaru muttered. "Too bad it cost us more then it was worth."

Kakashi nodded slightly. Shikimaru had taken it hard when he heard Naruto had defected with Sasuke. He had trusted the stupid blond and he turned his back on all of them. At least the others were all going to make a full recovery. Though Neji and Chouji would be out for a couple weeks at the very least even with Tsunade's healing ability.

Kakashi looked up at the man Gaara said had called himself Kimimaro again. A sad fate for a sad man it seemed. Kakashi sighed and glanced around. There was nothing for them to do now, but to return home and report...

- A/N -

There it is. Hope you enjoyed it. In this section from now on will be any the meaning of any jutsu that are not cannon in the show along with their effects and my closing comments. Most of these will probably be Ryu's and any of the other none cannon characters that appear. That is all...

Chishio Misuto no Jutsu - Blood Mist Jutsu - Boils near by blood, causing it to turn into a mist in the air. More blood equals thicker mist. Can also target a living or dead body to boil blood right out of its veins.

Chishio Bunshin no Jutsu - Blood Clone Jutsu - Creates a clone out of blood. The clone takes on the appearance of the person (or people) the blood belonged to and has all of their combined abilities. To make use of these abilities the clone's maker must have knowledge of their functions and use.


	5. Team Ryuujin

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Chapter 4: Team Ryuujin

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample'** Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

grey o mage - Glad you enjoyed the Rasengan ripping Rya appart (Rya is Ryuujin's blood clone) but sadly I doubt I will have it do that to a solid person. Rya is liquid so its effect on him was similar to that of a blender with the lid off; it just spun him to shreds, literally.

Demondog666 - You are about to find out.

To everyone else again I thank you for the nice reviews, ask you to continue reviewing, and now on with the show. That is all...

- Sakura -

Sakura was in the hospital. She had been here for a while now, ever sense that day. Tsunade wanted to make sure she was "stable" before they released her. She glanced out the window again. Why? Why had she sent Naruto after Sasuke? She should have just gone herself. It would have turned out better. Anything was better then this.

She would of cried, again, if she had any tears left. They were gone, both of them. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they ever saw each other again. They would probably try to kill her on sight. She shivered at the thought of her teammates attacking her, mostly because she knew if they both improved at the same rate they had been she wouldn't stand a chance against either of them.

She grabbed her head shook it desperately trying to get rid of the images of Naruto and Sasuke suddenly flashed through her mind. Images of them slaughtering people in Konoha. Killing their one time friends and finally stopping in front of her. Such had been her nightmares ever sense they left. They would come back one day, she was sure of that, she just hoped they weren't anything like how her nightmares showed them.

Naruto a red eyed monster, his claw like hands dripping blood and a sick grin plastered on his face. Sasuke, a cold emotionless killing machine. Ruthless and uncaring. The thing that scared her most was in her dreams they always worked together perfectly. It seemed that only by becoming monsters could they finally be friends.

**"Hello, Saskura-chan**." Naruto's voice was an inhuman growl. He flexed his blood drenched claws.

"Did you miss us?" Sasuke asked coolly and smiled at her.

They attacked her at the same time...

She almost slammed her head into the wall as she tried to get rid of the images. Finally, they went. They would be back. They always came back. She sighed and fell down on her bed.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." She said quietly looking at the bed sheets. The door opened and Tsunade walked in and glanced around. She walked up to the bed and looked down at the pink haired ninja. It looked like she hadn't slept well again.

"You will be released today, Sakura-chan." The Hokage began. When Sakura only nodded she sighed and went on. "However, I am going to have the ANBU keep an eye on you."

Sakura smiled sadly. "Still don't think I am fit to take care of myself?"

"No." Tsunade said flatly. "In fact if it were my choice alone you wouldn't be leaving here for another month at _least_."

"It is your choice alone. You are the Hokage after all."

Tsunade frowned. "That may be true, however I also listen to your sensei. Kakashi knows you better then I do and he believes you should be well enough to begin training at least."

"Training?" Sakura looked up finally.

Tsunade sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Sakura they will come back some day, but it will probably be as enemies and they will be powerful. With Orochimaru and who knows what else teaching them they will be strong, merciless, killing machines." Sakura winced at the words. "We have to be ready for them. All of us."

Sakura nodded slowly, looking more dejected then ever. A pop echoed in the hall way signaling a ninja's arrival. A moment later the door swung open to reveal Kakashi. He walked in not even waiting to be invited.

"Hello, Sakura-chan." He said mildly to his student.

"Kakashi-sensei." She acknowledged gloomily.

He sighed and turned to Tsunade. "I have my report on our recon mission."

"And?" Tsunade asked. Normally they would have taken this else where, but she wasn't in the mood at the moment.

"It appears all the sound ninja who fought our team were KIA. We only found the one that Lee and Gaara fought though, the rest had been removed."

"I am guessing then the one they left couldn't be moved." Tsunade asked dryly.

"Correct." Kakashi said in a similar tone.

"Are you positive the others were killed?"

"Well I can't be one hundred percent sure, but judging from the reports our team gave..."

"Inexperience can often lead young genin to misjudge the finality of a battle. I want to be sure." Tsunade said the last words quietly.

"I understand. Then I will only say that it is unlikely any of them survived." Kakashi stated.

Tsunade nodded. "It will have to do. Dismissed." Kakashi nodded and turned to go, giving Sakura a reassuring smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan." The pink haired girl nodded and gave him a small smile.

After the jounin left Sakura turned to regard Tsunade. "Do you think any might have survived?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know." Tsunade whispered. "But something tells me that not all of them died..."

- Elite Training Room, Otogakure -

"My students, Kabuto?" Ryuujin asked again.

"Well, they are... that is to say..." Kabuto tried desperately to compose himself, but a spike of killing intent hit him like a slap in the face.

"What," Ryuujin repeated again, the faintest trace of anger entering his voice, "has happened to my students?" Naruto noticed the air around him was beginning to ripple like a hot sidewalk on a sunny day. He even thought that it was suddenly hotter in the room.

"They... they..." Kabuto stuttered taking a step back and raising his hands defensively.

"Kabuto, do not play games with me or it will cost you your life." Naruto could see the heat ripples plainly now and he was sure it was quickly getting hotter.

Kabuto swallowed and took a deep breath. "Kimimaro succumb to his illness during battle." Kabuto began. Instantly the slight amount of anger that had shown in Ryuujin's voice and stance vanished.

"He would of wanted to die in battle," Ryuujin said softly, "not in a bed useless and weak."

Kabuto seemed to relax a little after noticing Ryuujin wasn't trying to kill him, but a waver remained in his voice as he continued. "Jirobo was killed by a massive impact to the chest. I couldn't find out what had actually happened, but his death was almost instant. The blow crushed his entire chest cavity including his lungs and heart."

Ryuujin nodded again.

"Kidomaru's body was nearly untouched, but it seemed his chakra neatwork was almost completely destroyed. Again I am not sure exactly what happened to him."

Ryu scowled sadly. "He probably fooled around to much. The boy never could kill someone quickly. He had to play his little games with his target." The man sighed. "I suppose I should of taught him that if you play a game too many times you eventually lose."

Kabuto nodded slightly as he continued. "Sakon and Ukon, well, they were stabbed and sliced so badly I almost couldn't recognize their body."

Ryuujin closed his eyes. He seemed to be bracing himself for some kind of blow he couldn't dodge. "And Tayuya?"

Kabuto sighed tiredly and began rubbing the bridge of his nose. "She is alive, but..."

Ryuujin's eyes snapped open. "What?"

Kabuto blinked at the other man. "She is alive Ryuujin-sama. Though I don't know for how long. Even if she does survive she will never be able to walk again. Her spin was crush completely from the waist down. Her ninja career is over."

"Take me to her." Ryuujin demanded.

"But..."

The temperature spiked again and the heat ripples began to return. "Now, Kabuto!" Ryu growled.

"Ye... yes Ryuujin-sama. She is being kept in the hospital wing currently. This way."

Ryuujin glanced at their way and waved for them to follow. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and jogged up behind their new sensei trailing his left and right.

Kabuto moved quickly through the hall ways. So fast that both younger boys had to nearly run to keep up with the pace. He turned one last corner into the hospital ward and glanced down a hall way towards an open door.

Naruto blinked in surprise. Inside were three men standing around a bed talking to each other. Naruto could tell the bed was occupied, most likely by Tayuya. Kabuto seemed to freeze as he regarded the men, then his eyes narrowed in suspicion. They were Sound Ninja, but they were not elites. Few people who were not elites were permitted inside this building, much less in the hospital wing.

"What are you doing in there?" He shouted as they began walking towards the hospital room. The men looked at them in surprise then one shouted and pulled a kunai from his belt. Kabuto shouted something as all five of them sprinted toward the room, Ryuujin quickly covering half the distance before the rest of them had even reached the quarter mark.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the man with the kunai turn and arc the blade down toward whoever was in the bed. He realized that even Ryuujin wasn't going to be fast enough to make it. Apparently though the snake eyed man had already realized this. He preformed a set of hand seals at a blinding rate and raised a hand.

"Senai Jashuu!" He shouted. Four snakes sprang out of his sleeve and bolted at an unbelievable speed for the attacker. The snakes wrapped around the man's arms and squeezed. Even half way down the hall they could all hear the man's arms shatter. He screamed and started to fall over just as Ryu plowed into him from the side and grabbed him by the throat. Sasuke bolted in next and tackled the second man who had been trying to draw a kunai of his own. Naruto slammed into the third man with his shoulder smashing him against the wall. He heard the satisfying crack of ribs from the force of the impact.

As Naruto jumped back the man he just shoulder checked fell face first into the ground, apparently knocked out from the force of the blow. He looked at Sasuke who, with Kabuto's help, was restraining the second man. The first was still being bound by Ryuujin's snakes and the hand on his neck held him nearly two feet off the ground. The air rippled around Ryuujin and his cloak was beginning to smolder from the intense heat. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the man wreathed in pain, smoke curling from the hand on his throat.

"What exactly," Ryuujin's voice was ice cold despite the heat rippling across his form, "do you think you are doing?"

"Killing that bitch!" The man snarled, and then coughed as Ryuujin's grip tightened. Naruto glanced at the bed and saw the red haired girl that Shikamaru had stayed behind to fight. He sighed in relief when he saw her chest rise and fall under the sheets.

"Why? Did she do something wrong?"

"She failed her mission!" The man snarled.

Ryuujin's eyes narrowed and he glanced at Sasuke. "It was her mission to retrieve this boy. He is here. She did not fail."

"She lost in battle. Losers have no place in Otogakure." The man snarled again struggling desperately against the burning grip. "She doesn't deserve to live."

Ryuujin's eyes hardened. "Is that so?" He asked coldly. His hand twisted violently to the right and the crack of the man's neck echoed in the room. Ryu tossed the corpse away like a rag doll and it hit the wall with a dead thud. He regarded the man's two still living accomplices coldly as he dismissed his snakes.

"Ryuujin-sama, what should we do with these two?" Kabuto asked. He sounded disgusted as he kicked the one that he and Sasuke had tied up in the ribs.

Naruto stared at the man that Ryuujin had so casually killed. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, his eyes wide in a expression of eternal fear and pain. Around his throat was a perfect burn mark in the shape of Ryu's hand

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun." Ryuujin spoke.

Naruto blinked and turned to his sensei.

"Stay here and guard these two." He gestured at the two living attackers. "Kabuto, check Tayuya and make sure she is alright. I will return shortly." With that he turned and walked from the room.

Kabuto turned to the unconscious red head in the bed and began checking vitals and glancing at monitors. Naruto glared down at the man at his feet. Sasuke actually sat down on the other man's back to keep him from trying anything. After a few minutes Orochimaru walked in the room and glanced around once, his eyes settling on the two still living attackers. Ryuujin walked in right behind him. Together they really did look like relatives. Their matching eyes glaring in Naruto and Sasuke's direction was unnerving even though it wasn't them that were the objects of their ire.

"I see." Orochimaru said bluntly. "Well, normally they would be publicly executed, but I suppose you can do the honors now Ryu-kun if you think you have a use for them."

"Good." Ryu's voice was frosty. "Naruto, Sasuke put them against the wall there with their friend."

Naruto nodded slowly and dragged the man he had knocked out over to the wall next to the corpse. Sasuke did the same with the man he and Kabuto had tied up.

"Please, Orochimaru-sama it wasn't my idea! I swear!" The man begged. Orochimaru just scowled. "Please, spare me!"

"I wonder," Ryu asked, "would you and your friends have spared my student if she asked the same of you?"

The man didn't answer; he just fought desperately to escape his bindings. Ryu began making hand seals.

"Chishio Misuto no Jutsu!" Ryuujin snarled. Instantly the smell of human blood began to fill the air. Naruto blinked in surprise. The blood mist jutsu? What was he going to do with...?

Naruto's line of thought cut off as the still conscious man suddenly started screaming and thrashing on the floor. Naruto stared at him. He couldn't see anything happening to him that would cause such a reaction.

"Sasuke?" He asked quietly noticing Sasuke had activated his Sharingan.

At first the raven haired boy just stared at the screaming man. Then finally he answered. "He is draining the blood out of them." The Uchiha said quietly.

Naruto slowly turned to regard the man on the floor.

Ryu knelt down next to the thrashing sound ninja on the floor. "What you are feeling," he explained utterly emotionless, "is the blood being boiled out of your veins. It exits through the pores in your skin and becomes a mist in the air. Soon you will be nothing but a mummified husk, but I doubt you will live that long." He stood up and turned away.

Ryuujin sat down on the end of Tayuya's hospital bed and watched the man thrash. For a full five minutes the man screamed and struggled on the floor. Much to Orochimaru's amusement he lasted longer then Ryuujin had predicated and was alive until his body looked like it had been dead in the desert for several months.

Finally, the man stilled. Ryuujin stood again and glanced around the room. A thin mist of blood covered the area, but amazingly none of it reformed on the walls or people present. He looked Tayuya over and pulled the cover down to her knees to look over the damage that had been done to her, completely ignoring the red tinted air.

After a moment of looking at the girl's crushed legs and lower body he nodded. Orochimaru leaned against the wall watching his elite ANBU commander with obvious interest. He studied the other snake like man intently. Ryu began making hand seals again this time slowly, seeming to concentrate on every seal for a second.

"Chishio Sosei no Jutsu!" He whispered intensely.

The blood began to condense on Tayuya's lower body instantly. It kept gathering, but Naruto noticed there didn't seem to be any more of the blood then when it first started to condense. He glanced back at his sensei meaning to ask him what was happening, but stopped short when he saw the man's face. Sweat was rolling down Ryuujin's face and the look of utter focus told Naruto to hold his silence.

Soon the blood mist was gone and the last of the blood seemed to be absorbed by Tayuya. Ryuujin slumped and almost fell, but braced himself on the bed panting.

"Interesting." Orochimaru stated as he walked forward to look the girl over. "You seem to have completely repaired the damage."

"There was more then I was expecting." Ryu muttered. "So much nerve damage… it was hard to repair."

"Incredible." Kabuto whispered as he checked Tayuya's injuries, or what had been injuries. It was completely repaired; even the nerve damage was gone. He could tell because Tayuya tried to kick him when he attempted to check her broken bones.

"Her chakra coils will take longer then normal to repair. That jutsu can fix any physical injury so long as I have enough fresh blood, but it can't fix chakra damage."

Kabuto nodded. "She can probably be put in your care then. Her coils will just take time. Just be sure she doesn't stress her self."

"Of course." Ryu said and straightened. He turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "Well done. You reaction time was admirable given the rather... surprising situation."

Naruto smirked. "Well of course."

Sasuke shook his head, but was grinning anyways. "Dobe."

"I assume you have accepted them as your students then?" Orochimaru asked. Ryuujin nodded. "Well then, Ryu-kun, how long has it been sense you were in charge of a field team?"

Ryuujin blinked. "Years. I can't even recall the last time."

Orochimaru smirked. "You are now leader of Team Ryuujin. It's members will consist of yourself, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, and Tayuya." He nodded in satisfaction and turned. "As soon as you believe Tayuya is recovered enough for active duty, report and we can get you started on missions again."

Orochimaru walked out of the room followed by Kabuto leaving the new Team Ryuujin alone.

"Unexpected." Ryuujin stated.

Naruto gaped. "We are a team now? Officially?"

"Apparently."

There was a moan and shifting noise from the bed. They all at once turned to see Tayuya starting to sit up on the bed, the sheets still down around her knees. Naruto couldn't help noticing exactly how little the hospital robe covered and instantly started turning red. Tayuya noticed Ryu first.

"Ryu-sensei? Wha..." Saw noticed Naruto and scowled. "What the fuck are you doing here?! And what the hell are you blushing... for..." She glanced down at herself and turned red as well. Grabbing the sheet she pulled it up to neck and screamed. "Fucking pervert."

She grabbed a metal object off the table and threw it at Naruto. It bounced off his head and knocked him flat on his back, head spinning. The girl then proceeded to call him a long stream of profanities all while systematically shrinking back in Ryuujin's direction. Said elite ANBU simply watched with an amused expression that was very rare for him.

Sasuke sighed. 'This already looks familiar.' He flinched when the red head noticed him and included him in her yelling.

Ryuujin raised an eyebrow. "This could be... interesting..."

- A/N -

Chapter complete. Hope you enjoyed. REVIEW. That is all...

Chishio Sosei no Jutsu - Blood Rebirth Jutsu - Draws in blood from nearby sources and uses it to regenerate wounds, even fatal or crippling ones. If enough blood is used it can even regenerate missing limbs. The more extensive the regeneration however the more taxing it is on the user, especially if the person being healed isn't the user.


	6. Getting to Know Each Other

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness  
Chapter 5: Getting to Know Each Other

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample'**Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

KyuubiFang - Yeah I figured there were enough "i hate it all" Sasukes in the fics out there, I decided on dark Sasuke, but not dead to the world styled for this story. And thank you for complementing my OC, I tend to put a lot of work into creating them and Ryuujin took me longer then most. About five days just to write down his character outline! 0.o He is very complicated.

gery o mage - Indeed! Of all the Naruto characters that are part of the sound Tayuya is probably the only one I like so I just had to keep her alive, besides I need her for the plot points.

Demondog666 - The reason only losing Tayuya seemed to worry him will be explained later.

Kyuubi Fanatic - OMG thank you for pointing that out to me. I am going to fire my editors! It's their job to catch that stuff and keep me from embarrassing myself.

Vincent Nuramashi - An entire review simplified into a single word. I salute you my friend.

Bluestone - Unfortunately telling you that info would ruin the story. You will find out sooner or later just how bad it is gonna get.

Hebi R. - Be my guest, I will hardly argue against free editing.

Kitsune6 - Unfortunately I will probably use "Japlish" as you put. I am not a linguist nor will I ever claim to be, I am using a translation site (and probably not a very good one) so whatever it says pretty much goes unless you want me making up random words like ferbadoolde and saying it means something. I know only very, very basic Japanese and not nearly enough to actually create real jutsu names on my own. If you know a pretty good translator site tell me it would probably help.

Krow Blood - Well I did say the rating would change and that tends to mean it will go up. So then I gave you all the warning I could manage. I am happy you found it again though and even happier that you felt it was worth looking for.

I have nothing else to add. Enjoy the chapter. That is all...

- Forest Outside of Oto -

Naruto dodged another punch and barely managed to jumped out of the way of a sweeping kick. Rya, Ryuujin's personal blood clone, smiled evilly as he reached far beyond the length his arms would have normally allowed and punched Naruto square in the jaw. The blood clone then back peddled to dodge a Naruto clone who jumped out from a tree to attack it. He axe kicked the other bunshin right on the head dissipating it easily.

That was probably the most annoying thing. Rya took pleasure in proving he was a better bunshin then Naruto's shadow clones and he proved it constantly. The blood clone was faster, stronger, and more enduring then any bunshin Naruto and Sasuke had ever heard of. It apparently produced its own chakra as it was made of still living cells that formed a network similar to a normal chakra coil. Normal weapons did little more then annoy him and taijutsu blows were simply absorbed by the clones gel-like make up. In fact if you hit too hard your hand or foot could get stuck in him and he could beat the heck out of you before you could free yourself.

However, they had found Rya's weaknesses rather quickly. Even though he was only congealed blood he was still vulnerable to chakra damaging attacks and chakra drain since he had what passed for a chakra coil. He was very easy to destroy with explosions or blender type attacks like explosive tags and the Rasengan. He was also incapable of using ninjutsu or genjutsu because his "chakra coil" was different then a normal person. Despite knowing how to beat the bunshin though neither of them had managed it without fighting Rya two on one.

Naruto was currently working with the clone on his taijutsu. Ryuujin said if Naruto was going to be his student he wouldn't be allowed to simply throw punches until one connected by sheer luck. Rya was a good partner because he couldn't be hurt, didn't slow down much, and really didn't care if he got destroyed in the end. He would just come back in a few hours anyways or when Ryuujin used his Blood Clone jutsu again.

"Still too slow Naruto-kun." The clone commented.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto shouted back and charged the bunshin at top speed. It simply sighed and stuck out a foot. Unable to stop in time Naruto tripped and fell face first onto the ground.

"Controllable speed, Naruto-kun, not blindly charging."

Naruto grumbled and stood. "How am I supposed to beat you?"

"You aren't." The clone said and smirked at him. If Ryuujin could be considered nearly emotionless then Rya was his mirrored image. When not trying to act like the man, the bunshin was overconfident, obnoxious, rude, and cynical. Somehow Rya was a clone with a mind utterly to himself. He listened to Ryuujin like any other clone did its creator and could copy him almost perfectly, but he had his own personality and thoughts. Ryu roughly explained it in terms he thought they could understand.

"Rya is technically a living collection of cells that form a single conscious connection in order to survive. He is as much a living thing as you are, just made out of less complicated components. He is simple and artificial, but none the less alive." Ryu had said.

"I think that is enough training for today." Rya spoke with that annoying grin. "You made some pretty impressive progress though for your first day."

"I am not finished yet!" Naruto shouted at the clone.

"In the mood for more pain, eh? Very well, I guess I can play with you some more."

Naruto scowled angrily and charged the blood clone again. They had been at it for well over three hours now and Naruto hadn't really done more then amuse the bunshin.

Rya smiled and bent in a spineless manner to dodge a spin kick then landed a kick of his own in Naruto's gut. The blond fell over winded.

**'Having troubles, kit?'** A deep voice rumbled in his mind. Naruto's eyes widened a little in surprise, Kyuubi hadn't spoken to him in a long time.

'No!' He shot back instantly. He rolled as Rya attempted to knock his head off with a punch.

Kyuubi laughed mockingly.** 'Is that so? You seem to be having a great deal of trouble. You haven't even landed a hit yet.'**

Another punch this one from nearly five feet away and another roll. The clone's punch was followed by a kick that Naruto managed to block, but it sent him flying regardless.

'Shut up! You aren't helping.'

**'That is because you won't let me, ****fool** The fox snapped.

'I said shut up!'

"Your tenet giving you troubles Naruto-kun?" Rya asked.

"None of your business!" Naruto snarled. Not only was he dealing with a psychotic fox in his head he had to put up with a clone making fun of him.

"Let him hep you." Rya said seriously.

Naruto blinked. "What?"

The bunshin smiled. "Use his power Naruto-kun, you will be stronger when you learn to draw on his strength."

Naruto shook his head. "No! I won't use someone else's power to win!"

Rya looked confused. "But it's your power. Why not use it?"

"It the fox's power not mine!" Naruto seethed. "I am not the Kyuubi!"

"Of course not, but Kyuubi is yours, why not use him."

"Mine?" Naruto asked taken aback.

Now Rya looked utterly dumbfounded. "Of course he is yours! You are a Jinchūriki, he is your Bijuu. His power is just another weapon. Use it."

The fox cackled. **'A weapon? Me? The very idea of a human using me is...'**

'Give me your power.' Naruto ordered.

**'I don't think I will now.'** The kitsune grumbled.

'Do it!'

Rya looked on with interest as Naruto seemingly went blank. The blood clone knew the boy was talking to his demonic prisoner and waited until he was ready to resume their practice.

**'Or what, brat?'**

Naruto was standing in front of the fox's cage in his mind. The great beast was laying down glaring at him through the bars. Its red eyes emitting ancient evil. Killing intent so strong it seemed nearly suffocating.

'Or I will kill us both.' Naruto said looking up at the monster.

The Kyuubi's eyes widened just a little then narrowed to near slits. **'You won't, brat, I know you too well.'**

'Are you really willing to take that risk?' Naruto asked with a smile. He pulled a kunai from his belt pouch and raised it to his own throat.

The fox stared for a few seconds before it began laughing. **'You never stop surprising me, kit. Very well.'**

Power surged into him. Old power, ancient power. Power so evil it even made monsters tremble in terror. He told himself he hated the feel of it, but he knew, and Kyuubi knew, he secretly loved it. The feeling of near invincibility. The strength to do whatever he wanted. It was... indescribable.

Kyuubi grinned. **'Show him, kit. Show him a demon's power.'**

Naruto opened his now red eyes and glared at the blood clone. Rya looked almost deadly serious now. He was in a taijutsu stance. He had never fought seriously enough to use a stance of any kind before.

"Now," The clone said with a smile that would of made even Gaara shiver, "we can really get this party started."

The clone moved forward so fast Naruto could barely see it, but he didn't need to see it. His other senses and heightened instincts were more then enough. He dodged the blinding strike and tried to connect a kick of his own. His foot caught Rya in the chest, but instead of flying or even flinching the clones body opened and congealed blood enveloped his foot.

Rya tried to counter attack while he was trapped, but Naruto used his stuck foot as a pivot point to bring his other foot up and hit the clone in the head. Even the durable blood bunshin stumbled from the blow and Naruto's foot came loose with a sick slurping sound. Naruto smiled evilly and pulled away from the clone. Both his legs were covered in blood, but he ignored it.

Rya smiled in an almost insane manner and launched forward again. This time unleashing a flurry of punches. Naruto block everything until Rya arm bent at an angel that was impossible for anything with bones. The blow sent the blond reeling and Rya took complete advantage of Naruto's stunned state delivering a flurry of hits in quick succession the last of which sent Naruto flying.

Naruto slammed into a tree and fell to the ground, but jumped up instantly. He growled and launched forward. Even Rya wasn't fast enough to dodge the massive blow and was slammed into a boulder nearly forty feet away.

**'Not bad, brat.' **Kyuubi's voice echoed in his head in an almost impressed tone.

Kyuubi's power withdrew. Naruto's eyes returned to their normal blue color and they widened in horror at the damage he had done. Rya was literally splattered across the rock he had impacted, blood seeping every where. Naruto was just about to run and get Ryuujin when the blood began to pull back together. Just like when Ryuujin used his blood clone jutsu the blood that made up Rya reformed in a matter of minutes. The clone was bent over and panting looking a little worse for wear and very tired.

"Very good Naruto-kun. You win." The bunshin smiled as it recovered and stood straight.

Naruto frowned. "But I had to use Kyuubi's power."

Rya shrugged. "He is a weapon just like a kunai, so use him like a weapon."

Naruto nodded slowly. He had quickly figured out that what Rya told him about combat was the same thing that Ryuujin would tell him if in a different way. If Rya thought using Kyuubi was a good idea then so would Ryu. Naruto had never honestly thought of Kyuubi as "his" before. It was hard to imagine something so much older and stronger then him as his.

'A weapon...' Naruto thought to himself.

**'Perhaps.'** Came Kyuubi's answer. Naruto felt the fox grin evilly in his mind.

"Naruto-kun?" Rya put a hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Naruto shook his head. "Sorry Rya-sensei I was..."

"I know. And I told you not to call me that, it makes me feel old." Rya said and smirked. "Come on we should see how Ryu-kun and Sasuke-san are coming along."

Naruto nodded and they began moving towards the area that they had left Sasuke, Tayuya, and Ryuujin. They walked in silence and it wasn't long before they heard Ryuujin's voice.

"You have to be able to hold it for longer then that Sasuke-kun," Ryuujin was saying, "not all battles are decided in a time table of minutes."

"Yes, Ryuujin-sensei." Sasuke spoke. He sounded tired.

They came out of the trees into a clearing. Naruto spotted Sasuke just in time to see his curse mark retreat back into the seal on his neck. Ryuujin was standing next to him with his arms crossed. Naruto noticed Tayuya sitting in a tree at the edge of the clearing watching in a bored way. As soon as she saw him she scowled and started glaring. Naruto sighed, she still hadn't forgiven him apparently. Something told him she wouldn't for a long time.

Ryuujin glanced their way then back to Sasuke. "We will continue this next time Sasuke-kun. You did reasonably well all things considered, but you have to practice holding it for longer amounts of time. The more you use it the less draining it will become. Understand?"

"Yes, sensei." Sasuke said and sat down in the grass. Now that they were closer Naruto could see that the Uchiha was covered in sweat and was a little pale.

"Bombed training didn't you, Sasuke?" Naruto poked.

"Couldn't have been any worse then you." Sasuke shot back.

"Heh, I won actually." Naruto said and put his hands behind his head with a grin.

"No way." Sasuke looked disbelievingly at Rya.

The bunshin shrugged. "Yep."

"Impressive..." Ryuujin stated.

"Not really, his taijutsu is still crap, he just makes up for it with raw power." Rya reported causing Naruto's happy smile to fade a little.

"I see." Ryu looked at Naruto's slightly crest fallen expression. "You will improve with time Naruto-kun, don't worry. Defeating Rya is impressive regardless of the conditions."

Sasuke was scowling at him. "I am going to kick your ass one of these days, dobe."

"Bring it. Right here, lets go!" Naruto declared.

"Fine!" Sasuke stood up.

At the same time their legs gave out from exhaustion. The two glared at each other.

"Later then!" Naruto shouted. "You should just feel lucky I can't kick you around some right now."

"In your dreams, dobe!" Sasuke growled.

"You wish you were in my dreams you..."

Ryuujin shook his head slightly as a tree branch hit Naruto in the face and the blond was knocked back into the grass. Tayuya landed by her two teammates.

"Shut the hell up would you! I can't believe I am stuck with two losers like you for teammates!" The girl fumed.

Naruto sat up and glared at her. "What was that for."

"Because you are a fucking idiot!" Shouted the red head.

"Well what about him?" Naruto pointed at Sasuke who snarled at him.

"Fine," She said, "you are both fucking idiots!"

"Then hit him with a tree branch, too!"

Tayuya hit Naruto on the head. "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Hey!"

Ryuujin and Rya looked at each other. Team work was going to be a real problem it appeared. This was one of the reason that Ryu hadn't taken a team in years. He taught students, but he hadn't taken a team on missions for so long he couldn't remember the last time.

"Calm yourselves." Ryuujin stated in his emotionless voice.

"How can I be calmed when I survived one fucking team of losers only to be shoved into another one?" Tayuya growled. "This isn't fair!"

"Tayuya, you will not refer to your fellow students in that way again." Ryuujin ordered. Tayuya blinked in surprise and looked at the man as if he were joking. Then she looked back at Naruto and Sasuke. Her eyes narrowed and she turned to Rya.

"Rya-sensei can I talk to you alone for a minute."

The bunshin looked a little surprised, but shrugged and the two walked off. Naruto watched them go for a moment before looking back at Ryuujin.

"What is her problem?" He asked.

"She hates you." Sasuke supplied and Naruto scowled at him.

"It is simply her way." Ryuujin stated.

"To act like a foul mouthed...?"

Ryuujin cut him off. "Yes. Her past was... unpleasant. She was treated poorly by the people of her home. She simply learned that it is safer to scare others away from you then it is to try to make friends. She will come to trust you in time Naruto-kun, but given how you met it may be a while." He said the last part in a slightly amused voice.

"Yeah, yeah..." Naruto glanced off in the direction the red head and Rya had gone. He saw them standing just inside the trees talking. "What happened to her?"

Ryuujin looked at him in a considering way. The snake slit pupils narrowing as he gazed at the blond. "It is her story to tell not mine. If she decides she trusts you with it she will tell you."

Naruto nodded slightly. He understood that much.

"WHAT?!" Tayuya screamed. Rya laughed at something and started walking back towards them leaving a stunned looking Tayuya staring at them. In particular at Sasuke and Naruto.

"It seems she has just learned the nature of your training." Ryuujin said. "Come, we will return to Oto, you have the rest of the day off."

Naruto stood up. "What do you mean the nature of our training?"

"You are my students like her, she wasn't sure of this, in fact she seemed certain that you weren't."

Naruto looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Ryuujin shrugged. "Not everyone I teach I consider true students. Kimimaro and the others I trained only in defensive jutsu at Orochimaru's request. I had no argument against it as he didn't ask me to teach them any specifics that I with held for my own students. He took care of the large majority of their training himself."

Sasuke seemed to think that over as the started walking, leaving Tayuya and Rya to follow. "So they didn't take the test we did, did they?"

"No. They were not tested. I did not see in them the potential that I require my students to have." Ryuujin stated as he glanced over his shoulder at them. Naruto almost shivered. Ryu's golden eyes seemed to be able to read his thoughts at a glance. It was a disturbing feeling.

"So you just trained them in some basics?" Naruto asked trying to sound nonchalant.

"I would not call advanced defensive jutsu basics, but more or less correct."

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Tayuya. She was talking with Rya again as they walked. "Tayuya passed a test though, right?"

"Correct." Ryu stated.

"So what was it about us that you wanted that the others didn't have?" Sasuke asked.

Ryuujin smiled ever so slightly behind the rim of his cloak. "You have the ability to walk between."

"What?"

"You can walk between good and evil. Only those who are willing to walk in both the light and in the dark can gain true power. Those who walk only in darkness are blinded by the veil of power. They are chained by their own ambition and greed. Those who walk only in the light are blinded by the glare of justice. They are chained by their own need to uphold their ideals and the ideals of their people without exception. Although both can become strong neither can really see the world and both are restrained. Only those who can walk in both worlds, those who do not refuse to step over the line when needed can claim to be truly powerful."

"Between..." Naruto said quietly. To walk in the light and the darkness. Naruto didn't really understand, but he knew it was a simplified explanation of something much bigger.

"Tayuya, I believe you have something to say." Ryuujin suddenly said almost to himself.

Naruto looked to his right and realized the red head was walking next to him and Sasuke. He had been thinking so hard he hadn't even noticed her.

She turned a light shade of red and started stuttering. "Uumm... I... I am s... sorry for... for calling you both losers... I didn't really mean it..."

Naruto stared at her. "Did you just..."

She turned a red that almost matched her hair and hit him on the head. "Shut the hell up, whiskers! And don't either of you ever tell anyone I apologized or I will kill you!"

"Whiskers?" Naruto asked while rubbing his head. He was becoming resistent to her blows rather quickly.

"She has a habit of giving people she likes pet names instead of calling them by their real ones. I believe Ryu-kun was 'old python' last time I checked and I think I was..."

"Dead!" Tayuya shrieked and jumped at him. Rya gave an exaggerated girlish scream and jumped into the trees with Tayuya right behind him. Naruto almost fell over laughing. A clone of Ryuujin screaming like a girl was just too funny not to laugh, even Sasuke was trying to keep from laughing.

Ryuujin watched the two disappear into the forest and gave a small sigh. They continued walking.

"What about you?" Naruto suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence.

Ryuujin looked at him questioningly. "What about me?"

"What's your story? I mean why are you here? You aren't here because you really respect Orochimaru so what is your reason?"

Sasuke, who had looked bored since Rya and Tayuya ran off, suddenly seemed very interested in their conversation though he tried his best not to show it. The raven haired boy was looking at their sensei out of the corner of his eye.

"My story is long." Ryu said cryptically.

"Come on." Naruto whined. First Kakashi wouldn't show them his face and now Ryu wouldn't talk about himself. Why did he always get stuck with secretive teachers?!

Ryu smiled slightly. "My name is Ryuujin, known as Hisaki no Ryuujin or Kurayami no Ryuujin. During the Third Ninja War I was considered a rogue and outlaw who attacked and destroyed soldiers of all sides without regard. It got to the point were battles stopped if they thought I was in the area. I was given the flee-on-sight order that most S-class ninjas had half way through the war and was eventually confronted by Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. We battled and eventual we both collapsed from exhaustion. The fight was a draw." Naruto and Sasuke were both staring at him. He continued, completely ignoring their stares. "We could still talk to each other though even if we couldn't really move and we were there for over three days before either of us got strong enough to leave. Eventually he convinced me to leave Konoha and its allies alone for the rest of the war. Its soldiers were the only ones that I didn't consider targets from then."

"Why?" Naruto asked when the man didn't elaborate.

"Minato earned my respect. Not only in battle, but as a person. He knew what had to be done to protect what mattered most to him and he was willing to do it. If he had to he would of tried to kill me, but he was sure he could convince me to join their side. I didn't, but I did take them off my list of enemies. I have lost battles before, but I never held my opponent in such high regard as I did him. When I heard he died battling Kyuubi years ago I was... sadden. A great man left the world that day."

"Wait," Sasuke said, "how old are you? The Third War was years ago. You don't even look older then twenty!"

Ryuujin actually chuckled. "If only I could claim such youth. Looks can be deceiving Sasuke-kun. Needless to say I am older then both of you. Some day I may tell you, but not today. Until only recently," He continued his story, "I have been a wandering ninja. I haven't had a village I called my own for a very long time and Oto is only a brief stop. I will leave it some day, I do not like to stay in one place for more then a few years. I prefer to wander the world rather then tie myself to any one place."

"So you're a nukenin then?"

Ryuujin thought for a moment as they continued walking. The snake eyed man almost walked into a tree, but side stepped it at the last instant. "I suppose my original village would consider me a missing nin, but I left it years ago and have yet to see a single assassin team. I suppose they realize they would only be sending their people on a suicide mission. Their ninja were hardly on par with other countries, I was their secret weapon."

"So then you were the strongest ninja in your village?"

"Correct."

The conversation died down again. Sasuke glanced at Naruto who shrugged. They both had just gotten a lot to think about and Naruto wanted to talk to the Uchiha about what they had just heard, but not with Ryuujin standing right there. He would just find Sasuke later.

Tayuya landed next to them again and Rya landed next to Ryu seconds later.

"Catch him?" Naruto asked.

"She wishes she could keep up with me!" Rya declared. "I kept telling her to train physical abilities too, but did she listen to me? Oh, of course not!"

"Shut up!" Tayuya fumed.

Ryuujin sighed again as another fight started brewing.

'If only I had created a jutsu to induce temporary deafness.' He thought to himself.

**'If only, if only, Ryu-kun...' **

- A/N -

Phew long chapter. Sorry this took so long, but school is a bitch as I am sure many of you know. Review! That is all...


	7. Ryuujin's Mission

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 6: Ryuujin's Mission

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
**'Sample'** Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

I am going to break the responses down into groups seeing as everyone wants the same questions answered. Excellent that makes it easier for me!

Is Ryuujin a Jinchuuriki? Yes, no, maybe, perhaps... I can't tell you that or they will kill me. Sorry.

Why is Rya so different from Ryu? Rya is a clone, but he also has a mind completely onto himself. If I were a clone and I could think for myself I would want to be as different from the original as possible and I used this mentality in Rya. This caused Rya to develop what we would consider a mirror personality to Ryuujin. Ryu is dark, calm, logical, and cold. Rya is goofy, overconfident, obnoxious, and a little crazy.

How old/strong is Ryuujin in terms of other Naruto characters? "Some day I may tell you, but not today." Needless to say he is S class and old. He has lost a few battles here and there, but obviously no one has ever out right beat him (or else he would be dead). We know he was on par with the Fourth though and that puts him up there in the power rankings considering Minato was the best ninja Konoha ever produced and it is safe to assume he has improved since then.

What does "walking between" mean? (This was in five emails much to my surprise) Oo No, it is not a cool new power or anything like that (sorry) it's an ideology. "Walking between" is my own philosophical ideal of being able to cross the line between good and evil without regret or remorse. More or less it means that if you want to get what you want in life you can't always be just a good person or the bad person, sometimes you have to cross the line. Most people do this naturally, but they tend to regret it afterwards and this can cause them to avoid doing it again at high costs. Being able to walk between means you can cross the line any time you want and not regret it later. Not everyone is actually capable of this as Ryuujin explained, some people are "blind" to the world and cannot see that line or are "chained" to one side by their own ideals.

Sorry this took so long... again... hopefully the next one won't take so long to get done, but don't hold your breath. Remember to review. That is all...

- Kakashi -

Kakashi was not having a good day. First Sakura doesn't show up for training. Then when he found her at the spot where Team 7 introduced themselves to each other on their first day she says she isn't feeling good and can't train today. The area had become a kind of memorial to her, much like the Lost Heroes memorial was to him. It helped her remember Naruto and Sasuke as they were, not the monsters they would undoubtedly be when they came back.

He never had the heart to tell her to forget them and get to training. It was impossible to simply walk away from something like that. In many ways they were alike in that regard. He never forgot Obito, Sakura would never forget her teammates. He had stayed with her for a while. That place reminded him of those two as well, the good times, the bad, and the flat out foolish. Finally, he had told her that they would get back to training tomorrow. All she had done was nod.

Then after only about ten minutes of walking around pointlessly an ANBU jumped off a roof and told him the Hokage wanted to see him... now. He sighed as he turned towards the Hokage compound and made his way there at a leisurely pace. He pulled out his favorite book and started reading through the last few chapters as he walked along.

It always seemed to amaze people that he could read a book and walk down a busy street with only one eye uncovered and not run into anyone. It wasn't that hard, he just listened to the footsteps of people nearby and he could easily determine where they were. He almost shook his head in annoyance, it was a basic shinobi ability and yet even his fellow jounin seemed completely baffled by his reading and walking. Really, he was training his senses to function without the use of his eyesight and getting in some relaxation at the same time. Being able to pick up enemies without sight was something he had started working on ever sense his encounter with Zabuza. That little scuffle had shown him he depended far too heavily on his eyes.

He looked up as he reached his destination and put his book back in his belt pouch. He shuddered to think what Tsunade would do to him if he walked in reading one of Jiraiya's novels. The woman was completely incapable of seeing the genius in the books it seemed. He sighed again and walked in deciding to use the normal door for once.

He headed straight for her office. He wanted to get this over with fast. Whatever she wanted it couldn't be good, it never was these days. He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath as he raised one hand to knock.

"Come in." Tsunade voice said on the other side of the door before his even rapped the wood once.

He opened the door and stepped in. "You wanted to speak with me Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade was sitting in the Hokage chair with her back to him, gazing almost mindlessly out the window. It reminded Kakashi of Sarutobi, he used to do the same thing when he was troubled.

"Sit down, Kakashi." Tsunade ordered.

He shrugged and sat down in the chair across from her. She turned around to face him.

"How is Sakura's training coming along?" She asked.

Kakashi flinched. "Not well." The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "She is still troubled deeply. She goes to places that they all went together and skips training all the time."

"Then make her train instead of letting her run off to sulk." Tsunade said sternly.

"I can't do that Tsunade-sama." Kakashi whispered sadly.

The blond woman's face hardened. "Why?"

"Because I know how she feels." He said quietly. "I have felt the same thing ever since Obito died. Regret that tears you apart inside. It twists you up until all you can think about is the loss. The only way to fight it is to remember the people that you lost and it is easier when you have a special place to remember them by. For me it is the memorial. For Sakura it is the spot that we all introduced ourselves on..."

"Kakashi," Tsunade said sadly as she began rubbing the bridge of her nose, "ninja can't afford to have..." He cut her off by continuing.

"And for _you_ it is right out that window." He pointed outside the window to a nearby building top were Tsunade and her brother used to go. The Hokage flinched and glanced outside at the balcony sadly. "We all have our own little way of dealing with loss Tsunade-sama, even you, and we both know sometimes the hurt never really goes away."

She nodded slowly. "I don't let it get in the way of my responsibilities; even you keep it under control despite being late to nearly everything, unlike your student who as you say simply skips out on her responsibilities."

"You are right, but you and I have had years to come to terms with what happened in our pasts. Sakura hasn't even had a month and what happened to her was far worse. Our loved ones died, hers betrayed her. You really can't expect her to get over it so quickly."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair tiredly. She seemed almost as old as Sarutobi for a moment. "I would like to train Sakura from now on Kakashi if you would be willing to relinquish her."

Kakashi stared for a second. This was not what he had been expecting. "If you want to Hokage-sama you only have to make an official order and..."

"No, Kakashi, I want _you _to decide if you think you could better train her or if I could. Sakura has potential, perhaps not as much as Sasuke and Naruto had, but it is still there. As her sensei you get to make the call on this, you know her better then I do."

"So then we are just discussing this as friends then?" He asked and gave her one of his signature eye smiles.

Tsunade looked at him in surprise then smiled slightly. "Yes, just as friends. What do you think?"

Kakashi leaned back and thought. On one hand he could probably do a pretty good job training Sakura and he was sure he would be easier on her then the Hokage would be. However, Tsunade was one of the most powerful female ninjas that had ever lived, there were defiantly big pluses in being her student. He nodded.

"You should train her, Tsunade. I am almost one-hundred percent certain that you would be able to do a better job then me."

The blond woman raised a suspicious eyebrow. "_Almost _certain?"

"Well, we can't be _completely_ sure of anything can we?" Kakashi asked with another eye smile.

Tsunade laughed. "I suppose you are right, Kakashi." She became slightly more serious. "How much time do you think we have before they come back?"

He didn't need to ask who "they" were. "A year. Maybe two." He said quietly.

Tsunade looked at the ceiling a mask of near defeat on her face. "Orochimaru's newest weapons..."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I wouldn't be too sure of that."

The Hokage blinked. "What?"

"Naruto is a Jinchūriki. Sasuke is an Uchiha. Both are powerful and neither is easily controlled."

"Are you saying they might betray the filthy little snake?"

"I am only saying that some day Orochimaru is going to try to control someone that he can't and it is going to cost him..."

- Oto Throne Room -

"Aaahhh Welcome back, Ryu-kun." Orochimaru greeted with his most sinister smile.

The other snake eyed man showed no reaction. "You wanted to see me?"

Kabuto, who was standing behind the throne silently, was always amazed at the lack of respect the man showed and the fact that Orochimaru tolerated it. What amazed him more though was that no matter what was going on Ryuujin always seemed calm and collected. Personally, if Orochimaru had given him that same grin he probably would have shivered.

"Yes, I wanted to ask how your first day of training went." Orochimaru spoke as he leaned back in his chair.

"They are within acceptable levels considering their age. My only concern is teamwork." Ryuujin reported.

"The Uchiha will not need that." Orochimaru said with a chuckle. "In a few years I will be ready to take him as my new vessel."

The other snake eyed man suddenly seemed dangerous. His posture changed ever so slightly and small heat ripples began to form around his body. Orochimaru tensed and Kabuto felt a small leak of killing intent coming from the two.

"I cannot allow that." Ryu stated.

Orochimaru stood with a scowl. "What was that?"

"Sasuke Uchiha is my student. I will not allow you to harm him."

"He is _mine_, Ryuujin!" Orochimaru hissed and pointed angrily at Ryu. "I am the Otokage! Every single ninja in this village is _mine_, even _you_!"

Killing intent suddenly slammed into the air from both golden eyed men. Kabuto had the feeling that he was being smothered by some inescapable weight. He could almost taste death in the air. The only thing that could of produced a more powerful killing intent then this would have been a Bijuu. The feeling was so terrifying he had to desperately fight the instinct to run from the room.

"Do not presume to order me, _viper_." Ryuujin voice was ice cold. "I am not one of your mindless drones nor can you frighten me like these insignificant children you call minions."

"I will have an Uchiha for my next vessel, _python_," Orochimaru hissed, "even if I have to kill you to get it."

"If you believe you can then you are welcome to try." Ryu's eyes almost seemed to glow above the rim of his cloak. "Before you do though I would suggest you listen to what I have to say."

Orochimaru crossed his arms and glared. "Then speak."

"If you use Sasuke as your new vessel you will never have the full power of the Sharingan."

The viper blinked. "What?"

"The Mangekyo Sharingan. If you use Sasuke you will never possess it." Ryu stated.

"And why is that?" The killing intent was dissipating now. Both snakes seeming to relax. Kabuto nearly sighed in relief, but stifled it so he wouldn't draw the attention of the older men.

Ryuujin smiled knowingly behind the rim of his cloak. "In order to unlock it you need to kill your best friend or so I have been told. Your only friend is yourself, Orochimaru. Your only option then is to possess someone who has already unlocked its power for you."

The other snake scowled. "Then I will just have Sasuke-kun kill Naruto. It is a small matter."

Ryu shook his head. "Sasuke will not kill Naruto, not even for all the power the Mangekyo would give him. He already knows how to unlock it and has not even made the attempt or shown any interest in acquiring it as far as I know."

"Then what are you..."

"Itachi Uchiha." Ryu stated the name simply.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "What of him?"

"He possesses the Mangekyo."

"Yes, and I cannot possess his body. He is stronger then me." The serpent sannin snarled angrily. That admission stung every time he thought of it.

"When I feel my team is ready I will capture and bring him to you. Weakened he should not be hard for you to overpower, correct?"

Orochimaru thought for a moment then grinned evilly after the implications sank in. "I should have known I could count on you, Ryu-kun." The man said as if minutes ago they had not been ready to kill one another.

Ryu closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "I am doing this for my students, Orochimaru, not for you. After this I am leaving Oto and I am taking them with me. I expect this to make us even so you will let me and my students leave in peace."

Orochimaru opened his mouth to argue with the other snake, but Ryu turned away. Orochimaru's jaw snapped shut with an audible click as he glared at the man's back. Ryu walked out the door, but paused just before they began to close and looked over his shoulder at Orochimaru. A blast of killing intent hit them with such power even the snake sannin took an involuntary step back.

"I will warn you only once, Orochimaru," Ryu's voice was utterly void, "if you try to harm any of my students, I will kill you."

With that he turned and left, the doors shutting behind him. Orochimaru sat back in his throne with a thoughtful look on his face. Kabuto leaned down next to the sannin's ear.

"Why do you tolerate his disrespect Orochimaru-sama? Why not stop him?" Kabuto asked.

The snake sannin frowned slightly. "Because I am not entirely sure I could..."

- Elite Training Room -

Ryu walked into the training area he kept for himself and his personal students. He spotted Tayuya immediately; her fire red hair and strange cap were easy enough to see in any environment. He worried about that sometimes, but she always managed to stay hidden when she really wanted to. He followed her gaze and found Rya guiding Sasuke and Naruto through some taijutsu drills. Or at least that was what it appeared to be at first glance. After a moments observation he realized that it was actually Sasuke showing Naruto the drills and Rya just giving tips when he noticed something off. Perhaps teamwork wasn't going to be such a problem after all...

As if in defiance of his thought Tayuya started ranting at Naruto, for no reason that Ryu could see, and Naruto shouted something back. The fight quickly escalated to the point were Rya and Sasuke were holding the two apart. Despite Rya actually picking the angry red head off the ground and holding her in the air she still some how managed to hit Naruto on the head. Eventually they calmed down enough to be released and simply stood glaring at each other. It almost seemed like they loathed each others very existence, but that was only if you couldn't look beyond the front they put up to hide their true feelings.

Ryuujin noticed the way they looked at each other behind their glares, the way they leaned towards each other ever so slightly, how they kept looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, how Naruto seemed to train almost twice as hard when ever he knew Tayuya was watching him and the light blush she got whenever Naruto was looking at her. It all pointed to only one thing and he was confident he had spotted it before either of them had even begun to realize what the feelings were. He couldn't help the small smile that played across his lips as he watched them.

Sasuke had let go of Naruto and said something that made the blond spin around and start yelling in outrage. He couldn't really hear what they were saying, but when the two turned and started practicing their taijutsu at a rapid pace he was fully confident they had just challenged each other to something. Those two were almost as easy to read. Best friends. It was something very easy to pick up on. Despite seeming to hate each other they always pushed the other one to train harder, become stronger, and they trusted each other a great deal. Naruto trusted Sasuke with his life and the feeling was returned, they had proven that in their first fight with Rya.

Sasuke's and Tayuya's feeling towards each other appeared to be ones of respect and confidence, but not outright trust yet. It was a very complicated web of emotions, but a web formed a much stronger bond then a single strand.

Then there were their specialties.

Tayuya was a genjutsu expert of the most dangerous kind. She used music to create illusions; it was something she was a natural at. Sound was the hardest of all genjutsu methods to resist or escape. The user doesn't need to see you nor you see them in order for the effect to work, they can be great distances away and you get no warning that the jutsu is coming until you actually hear the sound and by then it is too late. Her demon summons also gave her an advantage in controlling and eliminating large groups of enemies with little trouble and without bringing herself into harms way. She was an excellent support expert in other words.

Sasuke was an Uchiha, probably the most skilled clan of ninjutsu users in the world. Their Sharingan gave them a huge advantage in combat of all types and made them very difficult to effect with genjutsu. They tended to learn quickly even without their bloodline ability and most were considered natural geniuses, apparently Sasuke was no exception. His tactical mind was sharp and he made excellent use of his teammates abilities in combat. He would be an excellent team leader.

Then there was Naruto. He was going to be a great ninja some day, Ryuujin could see that. Naruto would most likely even surpass him sooner or later, but that was a very long way off. He was moderately skilled in taijutsu and ninjustu with a near infinite range for possible improvement, his only weak point was genjutsu. Thankfully he had enough chakra to fight off most genjutsu without much difficulty. He was also the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the King of the Bijuu. That alone made him far more dangerous then Tayuya or Sasuke could ever dream of being. Kyuubi's power was literally infinite, not even the Death God could kill it.

Ryu wondered what Naruto would say if he found out that his new sensei knew he contained the Kyuubi. It would be an interesting reaction to say the least considering they had never met in person before or discussed it since he arrived, but Ryu had heard rumors and often enough if you put enough rumors together you get the truth. He had recognized the "demon vessel" the moment he stepped through those doors. It was a sweet irony in its own way; Kyuubi no Kitsune brought to his knees by a mere human child…

Something inside Ryuujin stirred at the thought of the nine tailed fox, something just as ancient and even more sinister. Eight pairs of glowing red eyes opened in his mind and gazed out through his own eyes at the blond boy.

**'Oh how the mighty have fallen.' **Eight voices hissed as one and laughed at the irony of the statement, a thundering sound that at one point in time could of cracked mountains. Ryu crushed the voices, smashing the evil of his own mind into the back of his head.

"Ryu-kun!" Rya called with a lazy wave after finally noticing him. "What did the viper want?"

"Nothing important." He stated as he walked towards the small group. Naruto and Sasuke hadn't stopped training, but they did register his appearance. Tayuya grinned at him.

"Did you chew him out?" She asked.

He regarded her in mock annoyance. "No." He said causing her to pout in a disappointed manner.

"Then what did you do?"

"I promised to accept a very difficult mission when I feel we are ready for it." He responded.

She smiled evilly. He worried about that sometimes too, she had spent far too much time with the other members of the Sound Four and he was afraid it had diluted her ability to cross the line when needed. He did not care what his students used the power he gave them for. It was their choice, their strength and they could spend it however they pleased, but he would make sure that no matter what they wanted to use it for they were well equipped for it.

**'Getting attached are we now, Ryu-kun?'** The voices asked. Again he smashed them and made sure to lock them away, at least for a while.

"Awesome! So I can finally start training again?" Tayuya asked bring him back to the living world.

He nodded slightly. "When you feel you are ready I am going to take your training to the next level. You will all need to be stronger if we are to succeed in this mission."

"What's the mission?" Sasuke asked still practicing punches and kicks full speed trying to out pace Naruto.

"We will be going on lower rank B or A missions before we attempt the main mission. I need to evaluate your skills in actual combat before I decide if we can handle an S ranked mission or not." He stated.

Naruto stumbled. "S rank? We got an S rank mission? Bu... but Sasuke and I are only genin..."

Ryuujin shook his head slightly. "Perhaps in Konoha, but here rank is determined by power alone, not by tactical skill. You are both elite class genin in Oto and you have an elite ANBU for a sensei. In terms of ability this team's overall ranking is near the top of the list in this village."

Sasuke stopped punching and kicking the air when Naruto stumbled and was now studying him intently. The raven haired boy knew he was hiding something. "You didn't answer my question. What is the main mission?"

Ryu turned his golden serpent eyes on the Uchiha's black ones and stared intently at him. After a moment he decided to simply tell them. "We are going to capture the S class criminal Itachi Uchiha and return him to Otogakure for Orochimaru."

Sasuke went stiff at the mention of his brother. Slowly his face turned into a snarl.

"_Capture_?" he whispered.

"Correct." Was Ryu's reply.

The boy exploded in rage. "I am going to _kill _him if I see him, not _capture _him! I will rip him apart for what he did!"

Even Tayuya flinched in the face of the young man's rage, but Ryuujin remained completely impassive.

"Do you really think," The golden eyed man asked, "that killing him will undo all that he has done? Perhaps you believe you will get a sense of closure from his death?"

"It doesn't matter!" The Uchiha snarled. "I _am_ going to kill him!"

"No you are not." Ryu said sternly. His eyes hardened when the boy opened his mouth to argue. "For your own good I will not allow you to lose yourself in a childish game of revenge."

"Childish?!_CHILDISH_?!" Sasuke roared at him.

_"Listen to me!" _Ryu snarled. Everyone froze. They had never seen him truly angry before and truth be told he was a little ashamed he let the boy's anger spark his own, but Sasuke needed to understand this, he needed to see. "If you kill your brother what then, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stared at him a second before answering. "I don't know..."

"Have you thought of anything beyond that? A greater goal? Your future career as a ninja? A family?" Ryu asked his voice returning to normal.

The young man flinched at the last one and looked at the floor. "I... no..."

"How do you plan on reviving your clan then?"

"I... I don't know..." He muttered.

"Sasuke..." Naruto whispered sadly.

Ryu put a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder causing him to look up in surprise. "You are still young, Sasuke-kun. You have time still, but do not let something as base as revenge cloud your vision or your judgment. You have friends that would miss you if you got yourself killed after all."

Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto and Tayuya and smiled slightly. "I... I understand sensei..."

"If it is any condolence," Ryu said as he removed his hand from the boy's shoulder, "if we succeed in this mission your brothers fate will be far worse then simple death."

The young Uchiha nodded. A small evil grin spread across his face.

"When Tayuya feels she is recovered we will begin your new training..."

"I am recovered." The red head said confidently.

"Tayuya, I understand your eagerness to get back to training, but this will be more difficult then anything I put you and the others through before..."

"I am ready, you old python!" The girl growled stubbornly.

Ryu smiled despite himself and shook his head. "Very well, we will start by doing some combat drills. Similar to what you have been doing with, Rya. All three of you will attempt to defeat a single opponent this time."

The blood clone raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced at the three without much confidence. He couldn't even beat Sasuke and Naruto together much less with Tayuya thrown in as support.

"How is that harder?" Tayuya asked glaring at Ryu. Sasuke and Naruto had similar expressions. They were disappointed it seemed. He gave a sinister smile behind his cloak where they couldn't see it. He would dispel their disappointment.

"Because Rya will not be your opponent," He said, "_I_ will be the one you are fighting..."

- A/N -

There it is. Hope you enjoyed it and remember to review. That is all...


	8. Team Training

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 7: Team Training

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking  
'Sample' Human thinking  
"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word  
"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking  
'**Sample**' Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

AznPuffyHair - You are about to find out, but I will tell you now Ryuujin is far, far stronger then Rya is. It would be like comparing a wasp to a jet fighter. One just hurts the other kills.

call015 - So did I. For some odd reason I just don't like Orochimaru very much...

To everyone else who reviewed I thank you and ask you to continue doing so. I would also like to point out that I finally got around to creating a forum after someone pointed out how difficult I tend to be to contact with just PMs. If you got something you want to talk to me about go there first instead of PMing me, the link is in my profile. That is all...

- Elite Training Room, Oto -

"You have ten minutes to prepare yourselves." Ryuujin stated and began walking towards the other side of the room. "After that we will begin and I will not be holding back. Rya I want you to brief them on my abilities."

For a long moment the three teenagers were struck utterly speechless. Ryu's eyes glowed for a second as he turned away and Tayuya knew he was grinning behind the rim of his cloak. Something in her was grinning right back at him. The prospect of seeing just how powerful he really was made her excited at the same time a part of her was utterly and truly terrified at the very idea. Hisaki no Ryuujin the Dragon King of Flames. He had earned that title with the blood of countless men and women who had been foolish enough to fight him. The only person that had been able to stop him was a ninja from Konoha...

'The same village Naruto-kun and Sasuke are from...' She thought as she glanced sideways at the two.

They were both staring at the man's back nervousness evident on their faces, but there was resolve in their eyes. They were going to win and there was nothing anyone could say to convince them otherwise.

"_Nine_ minutes." Rya said to get their attention. The clone crossed his arms.

"Then what are you waiting for, Rya-sensei?" Naruto declared turning towards him. "Start talking."

Rya smirked. "I'll give you a quick version of what he will probably throw at you. You have seen Ryu-kun angry right? The heat ripples?"

They all nodded.

"That happens because Ryuujin has a massive amount of elemental chakra in his body, fire chakra as it were. He has so much that when he is angry or upset it starts to radiate from him as heat. It's one of the reasons why he tries to remain so calm all the time, he could inadvertently hurt someone if he doesn't remain in control."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Does he have a kekkei genkai that lets him do that?"

"No." Rya shook his head. "Ryuujin has no kekkei genkai, it is just a natural ability he was simply born with."

Sasuke frowned. He was sure it had to be a kekkei genkai of some kind. He had never heard of anyone that just had large amounts of elemental chakra before or at least not in the amounts necessary for it to manifest against a persons will.

"Why does a large amount of fire chakra matter? We just have to..." Naruto began.

"Because of how he uses it in a fight." Rya interrupted. "Those little heat ripples are _nothing_ compared to the inferno he unleashes when he actually wants to and he has developed a special form of taijutsu that uses his unique chakra levels."

"Well?" Tayuya growled after the clone didn't elaborate. She hated it when he made you ask before he would continue.

Rya glanced at Naruto and Sasuke. "You two come from Konoha right? You know about the Hyuga clan?"

The two nodded. Tayuya nodded when Rya looked at her. She had never actually fought one of them, but Orochimaru had made sure that her and the others studied them well enough to know them at a glance. They had a pretty powerful kekkei genkai after all.

"Their taijutsu style relies on speed and accuracy combined with releasing chakra out of their hands to amplify their attacks right?"

"In a nut shell." Sasuke said with a nod.

"Ryu-kun does something like that. When he attacks he puts almost no physical power behind his blows instead he focuses completely on speed and accuracy."

Naruto frowned. "How can he do any real damage then?"

Rya smirked in that annoying way of his. "When Ryuujin connects he channels fire chakra out of his body into the other person or object. That chakra then causes a small explosion inside whatever he touched. The more chakra he puts into it the bigger the explosion, but even one the size of a small firecracker going off in your muscles is enough to seriously hurt you. When you combine that with his heat aura you have yourself a real threat in close combat."

"So fast, accurate, and lethal or crippling with even a small touch?" Tayuya asked. She was starting to wish she had faked being sick for a few months at the very least.

"Sounds about right." Rya said with a nod.

"Just great!" She fumed and turned to Sasuke. "You better come up with a plan, raven boy."

"I..." Sasuke started then stopped dead and stared at her, "Raven boy?"

"Your hair looks like a fucking bird's nest! Now come up with a plan, dammit!" She practically shouted.

"Just two more things." Rya said causing Tayuya to moan.

"Tell me it doesn't get worse!"

"Oh, but it does!" Rya cackled and started waving his arms around in an exaggerated panic. "It gets far, _far_ worse! Ryu-kun is going to kill you all!"

Tayuya hit him on the head. "Be serous you fucking moron!"

"Fine, fine," He said with a dismissive wave. "Ryu is a very good genjutsu user so watch out for that. I don't think he will use any on you, but it's good to know before hand. He is also pretty skilled at ninjutsu too. Fire types in particular."

"So he is almost a perfect fighter then." Sasuke said it as a statement not a question.

Rya shrugged. "Nah, he has his little weaknesses you just have to find them..."

There was a small whoosh noise behind them and the temperature spiked to an almost unbearable high. They all spun around and came face to face with Ryuujin.

"Time is up." He said with a small grin.

They could actually see his grin because he wasn't wearing his cloak. Instead he had on what looked like some kind of armor; he had probably been wearing it all along under his cloak. It wasn't metal; it looked more like some kind of cloth. It flexed as he moved and seemed to be fairly heat resistant. They could guess that because the air around him was so hot they had to back away to keep from getting burned. His normally golden eyes seemed to be tinted a reddish color.

In the blink of an eye he vanished and appear right in front of Sasuke. There was no warning and Sasuke barely had enough time to dodge a lighting fast palm strike. As he backpedaled away from Ryuujin he noticed a burning smell and instantly glanced down at his cloths. His shirt was smoldering wear Ryu's hand had passed.

Naruto threw a kunai at the man from behind, but he vanished again and the weapon clanked off the ground.

'Shunshin no Jutsu?' Sasuke thought. 'No, it's faster...'

Sasuke felt a spike of heat behind him and rolled forward as another open handed palm sizzled through the air over his head. He heard another whoosh as the man vanished again and appeared next to Tayuya. She rolled away from the attack and that's when something occurred to Sasuke. Ryuujin was driving them apart. Forcing them away from each other with every attack.

"Stay together or we are finished!" He shouted as he dodged yet another high speed attack. He finally managed to concentrate long enough to activated his Sharingan.

He watched as Ryuujin seemed to vanish again, but this time he saw what it was. To his horror he realized the man wasn't even using a jutsu, he was just so fast he _seemed _to vanish.

Most likely he was putting large amounts of chakra into increasing his speed, but it was so fast that even with his Sharingan Sasuke couldn't really tell for sure. Ryu appeared next to Naruto who dived out of the way, this time towards Sasuke. The raven haired Uchiha glanced at Tayuya and saw her running towards them top speed.

'She isn't going to make it!' He thought.

He made a split second decision and a quick calculation then threw a kunai at her full force. An instant after he threw the weapon Ryu appeared next to her right in the path of the kunai. He spun around so fast even Sasuke almost didn't see it and grabbed the kunai out of the air. It did what Sasuke had hoped it would do and gave Tayuya enough time to reach them.

Ryu held the kunai for a moment then glanced at them. He began rolling the weapon between his fingers as he seemed to think about something. The metal was literally red hot and seemed to be nearly melting in his grasp. Without warning he threw the red hot kunai back at them and began make hand seals at a nearly impossible speed.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He said emotionlessly and the single red hot weapon turned into dozens. The three teens were again forced to separate in order to dodge the attack, but as the kunai flew by they saw Ryu doing more hand seals.

"Kibaku Kunai no Jutsu." All at once the kunai exploded into red hot chunks of near molten shrapnel. Sasuke easily dodged the missiles with the aid of his Sharingan and he saw Tayuya avoid all of it by jumping away, but he heard Naruto shout out in pain and spun around only to find the blond struggling to his feet with one arm hanging numbly at his side. Sasuke couldn't tell how badly hurt Naruto was from this distance, but it didn't look good.

'Dammit!' Sasuke cursed mentally as he turned back to the man they were fighting. 'He is too fast... but there has to be a weakness in his attacks, Rya said there was!'

Ryuujin just stared at them impassively. "Is this all you are capable of?" He asked.

Sasuke snarled silently and glanced back at Naruto. This was bad. One team member was already injured and Ryu hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Not yet." Naruto growled. "I am not done yet."

Ryu smiled slightly. "I had hoped not."

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Dozens and dozens of Naruto clones filled the the training room. There had to be at the very least four or five hundred of them. Even Ryu raised an eyebrow at their sheer numbers.

"Admittedly that is quite impressive for someone so young." He stated.

"Let's go!" The clones all shouted at once and charged their single enemy. For a split second Sasuke actually thought Naruto might simply overwhelm Ryuujin with numbers. That thought lasted until he saw about thirty clones disappear in the blink of an eye. Naruto was just buying them time.

'Maybe I can hit him with a Chidori... no he is too fast for that...' He was desperately trying to come up with some form of attack that would actually work.

"Come on bird boy, Naruto needs our help!" Tayuya said right behind him.

"Won't make a difference. We need to figure out how to beat him while Naruto gives us some time." He responded without looking at her.

"Any bright ideas?" She asked sarcastically. He just shook his head. "Fine when you get one tell me until then..." She raised what looked like a metal flute to her mouth and started playing.

The sound was haunting, almost fearful. Instantly the world around them changed into a black abyss. Everyone stopped even Ryuujin. The golden eyed man was looking around as if all the Naruto clones had vanished.

'Genjutsu of some kind. Not bad for a foul mouthed girl.' Sasuke thought with a grin. This was a perfect opportunity for an attack.

Naruto took it instantly and to Sasuke's utter amazement some of the clones actually began connecting hits. That was right up until Ryuujin disappeared again and appeared right in front of Sasuke and Tayuya.

"I can hear you." He whispered. He was staring right at Tayuya even though it was obvious he couldn't actually see her. He made a set of hand seals so fast it couldn't be followed.

"Katon: Karyu Endan."

Ryu opened his mouth and a blast of blazing white fire shot out at them. Although they both managed to dodge the attack it caused Tayuya to release her genjutsu. Ryuujin's serpent eyes focused on her and he lunged with one arm. The tips of his fingers barely brushed her leg.

Normally it wouldn't have even mattered, but a second later she screamed in pain and fell thrashing to the ground. Sasuke back peddled, but instantly counter attacked trying to force Ryu to give ground until Naruto could get to them and save Tayuya who was struggling to get away.

His Sharingan allowed him to dodge Ryuujin's attacks if only barely, but something was off. How Ryu was fighting was suddenly completely different. Instead of just focusing on speed he was also putting power behind the palm strikes and seemed a little slower then before. Sasuke spotted a opening and swung a kick aimed at the man's side. It connected and "Ryuujin" disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'Shadow Clone!' He screamed mentally just as the real Ryuujin appeared right behind him.

"Too slow." He said and brought his hand down in a claw like motion aimed right at Sasuke's neck. He tried to move, but he knew he was far to slow to dodge it. He snarled as time seemed to almost freeze.

He could literally see Ryuujin's hand glowing a dull reddish orange color there was so much chakra in the attack. This was it...

A Naruto clone jumped between the two and took the blow for Sasuke. With his Sharingan Sasuke saw the small explosion that destroyed the clone. If that attack had connected it probably would of blown a limb clean off. Judging by how it was aimed it would have probably blown his head off.

Before Ryuujin could begin to recover from his attack the Naruto clones attempted to over power him. That's when Sasuke saw the little weakness Rya had mentioned.

'He has to switch between offense and defense. His combat style isn't suited to do both at the same time.' It was a quick analysis, but it seemed accurate.

For a split second after the first Naruto clone took the blow Ryuujin's stance shifted slightly and he completely changed his combat style from offensive to defensive, but a few hits landed during the transition. That was the weak point, but Rya was right, it was small. It literally only took him a split second to accomplish the shift.

Sasuke growled and backpedaled as Ryu began destroying clones by the dozens. Some of them didn't even appear to get hit, the heat aura was enough to destroy nearly half of the clones that tried to attack him.

'Hold on... why only half?' Sasuke concentrated for a moment on the clones that made it through. Nothing seemed different about them so it had to be something else. He turned his attention to Ryuujin. After a moment it clicked.

'Waves! The heat comes off him in waves! There must be a small gap in between each pulse!' Another weakness and just as small. Ryu had to have at least one large flaw some were...

Then again maybe he didn't. He had fought the Fourth Hokage to a draw. Against someone like that there wasn't any room for error or weakness. Sasuke turned his attention to why he had attacked so aggressively to begin with.

"Tayuya are you alright?" He shouted in the direction of the red head who was struggling to her feet.

"Fuck! No, I am not alright!" She yelled. There was a hole in her leg were Ryu had touched her. It wasn't really that big, about the size of a small coin and it wasn't crippling, but it probably hurt like hell.

As Sasuke was turning back to the fight he realized that Ryu had already disposed of nearly all of the clones and was now fighting the real Naruto. To be fair Naruto seemed to actually be holding his own, but it was painfully obvious it was only a matter of time before Ryuujin wore him down. Sasuke charged the man from the side hoping to catch him off guard. It worked... sort of.

Ryuujin glanced at him and vanished appearing several feet away with a amused expression on his face. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Your teamwork is better then I expected," He stated, "but your individual skills are no where near the level I was hoping for..."

"You attacked use without any warning! Of course we aren't fighting at one hundred percent! Getting caught off guard kinda does that!" Naruto shouted as he flexed his right arm. It seemed to have already completely healed.

"A shinobi must be prepared for surprises of all kinds." Ryu replied.

"I am going to fucking kill you for this, you old python!" Tayuya snarled and activated her curse seal to the first level. Black lines sprouted from the seal on her neck and covered her entire body.

Sasuke stared for a few seconds then smiled evilly. He had actually forgotten about the seal. He activated his as well.

The feeling of power flooding into him was fantastic. He was sure he could beat Ryuujin with this much power. His confidence deflated a little when he saw the small smile Ryuujin gave them.

"So you are finally ready to fight?" He asked.

"You better be ready!" Tayuya growled.

Ryuujin glanced at Naruto and raised an eyebrow in surprise. Sasuke glanced at Naruto too, just to find out why the man seemed so surprised and saw something that caught him off guard as well. Naruto's normally blue eyes were blood red. The whisker marks on his cheeks seemed to be larger as well and he was snarling in a feral manner. He looked almost demonic...

"This will be entertaining I think." Ryuujin declared and dropped into his taijutsu stance. One hand straight out in front of him, the other hanging limp at his side with his legs spread apart in a low crouch. It looked very similar to a Hyuga's stance.

'Yeah,' Sasuke thought with a smile, 'entertaining.'

Sasuke charged as he heard Tayuya's flute playing in the background. This time the world seemed to almost shimmer. For a second it was completely disorientating, but then the song change very slightly and the shimmer vanished. At least for him and he assumed for Naruto, but judging by how he seemed to be trying to collect himself it was still there for Ryuujin.

Sasuke jumped and attempted to axe kick the man from the air. Ryu barely managed to back peddle, but he stumbled and Naruto came snarling, literally snarling, at him from the side swinging his hand at the man like a claw. Again Ryuujin barely managed to dodge the attack by jumping into the air, but this time he didn't stumble.

He was already over powering the genjutsu! All the extra power the seal gave Tayuya and she still couldn't keep him in one for more then a few seconds. Without warning Ryuujin seemed to completely recover.

"I lost it!" Tayuya shouted.

The man launched straight for her again.

'He is trying to get rid of our support!' Sasuke panicked and moved to try to intercept the man. He was far too slow, as was Naruto and Ryu went zipping past them at what seemed an almost mocking pace considering how fast he could actually go.

Tayuya started making hand seals and Ryuujin vanished. A split second later he was right in front of her one hand swing at her side like a claw...

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Tayuya shouted with desperation plainly evident in her voice. Ryuujin stopped instantly and back flipped as a massive spiked club came crashing down were he had just been standing. He regarding the three monsters that Tayuya had just called into existence. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at them in shock himself.

One looked like a mummy, but its head was twisted until it was upside down on its neck with its uncovered mouth facing into the air. On the lower half of its head, were its eyes would have been, where what looked like some kind of needles. The one in the middle was the one that attacked Ryu. It wielded a massive metal club. Besides it's size and pale skin it looked more or less normal with its simple black shirt and pants, but its long hair hide its face from view. The last was bear chested and sported a very long goatee and sideburns. Its eyes and ears were covered by a cloth tied around its head. Attached to its arms were giant metal claws. All three of the demons had their mouths sewn shut.

"I'm going to play you a dirge, sensei." Tayuya smiled and raised the flute to her lips.

Ryuujin's eyes narrowed as he glared at the demons. Tayuya began to play and the demons moved. Fast. Ryu stumbled backwards as the one with the club swung at him then rolled as the mummy smashed into the ground from above. The one with the claw weapons almost got him from the side, but he vanished and reappeared a few yards away.

Sasuke smirked. Tayuya had just turned the fight into a six against one battle.

"Do you really think," Ryu asked coldly, "that those puppets will be enough to deal with me?"

He was glancing between Naruto and Sasuke on his right and Tayuya and her demons to his left. Tayuya's melody changed and again the demons lunged forward, but this time Ryuujin was apparently ready for them. He dropped into a low stance and waited until the one with the club swung at him. At the last instant he barely moved out of the way. As the club smashed into the ground next to him he touched it with the tips of his fingers then quickly jumped away.

The solid metal weapon exploded. The demon glanced down at its hand or what had been it's hand. The appendage had been blown completely off, but it really didn't seem to bother the monster that much. It turned towards its target and attacked with a punch from its still good arm. Ryu made an odd hissing sound and flipped over the creature to avoid its attack... only to fly straight into a very angry Naruto. Ryuujin's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto appeared in ront of him.

"I am going to make you pay for hurting Tayuya-chan!" He growled and lashed out with a claw like hand. The blow connected and sent Ryuujin flying into the ground with a loud crash.

Tayuya stopped playing her flute and the three demons went still instantly. They watched as a plume of dust slowly made its way up to the ceiling from the crater.

"Did we get him?" She asked.

Sasuke frowned. It couldn't be that easy...

"Katon: Houka Kadou no Jutsu."

A pillar of blazing white fire erupted from the small dust cloud were Ryuujin had landed. One of the demons was engulfed and instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The other two demons and the three teens jumped back to avoid to spinning vortex of fire.

Sasuke couldn't look right at it, the flames seemed nearly as bright as a star. The vortex dissipated quickly leaving Ryuujin standing the center of what appear to be a glass floor. He began making more hand seals.

"Katon: Naraku Houka no Jutsu."

He slammed both his hands onto the floor and a small flash of white light sped across the ground towards one of the remaining demons. Tayuya played a quick melody on her flute and the creature jumped straight into the air to avoid the glow. The second the light was under it, however, a massive pillar of white and black flame erupted from the ground destroying the demon and leaving another area of glassed floor. Ryuujin straightened.

Sasuke starred at their sensei. He had always thought the Uchiha clan had been the most skilled fire jutsu users in the world, but he had never seen or heard of fire techniques with such overwhelming power. He glanced up slightly and he felt his jaw go slack. The first jutsu had melted a smoldering hole right through the ceiling. He wondered how high those flames had actually gone...

"Sasuke move!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke blinked and glanced back at Ryuujin just in time to see him finish another set of seals. He raised his hands towards the last demon in a claw like fashion. Sasuke jumped to the side to avoid whatever the man was unleashing now.

"Katon: Kaen Inferuno no Jutsu!"

White hot fire roared out of Ryuujin's palms towards to final demon which jumped into the air in an attempt to avoid them. Ryu simply raised his hands and engulfed the creature in a bath of burning flames. The creature disappeared with a scream. Tayuya fell over backwards panting and glared at their sensei angrily. No one had ever destroyed her summons so easily.

"I believe," Ryuujin said, "that is enough for today."

Sasuke stared at the man. He wasn't even sweating. He wasn't even breathing hard. He wasn't even slightly winded!

"You...you weren't even trying." he stammered.

Ryuujin raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course not. I wouldn't want to kill you after all."

"But... all that chakra you just used and... and you aren't even tired!"

Ryu shrugged and disappeared. A moment later he was back with his cloak on again.

"Looks can be deceiving Sasuke-kun. You put up more of a fight then I was expecting." He said as he looked them over.

He walked up to Tayuya and knelt down next to her. She glared up at him as he looked her injured leg over.

As he got closer Sasuke saw that the wound wasn't even that deep. Ryuujin must have held back a lot, but he was still glad their sensei hadn't managed to touch him. He didn't like the idea of having a chunk blown off him even if it was only the size of a coin.

Naruto walked up and stood next to Sasuke. The blond was looking at Tayuya with a worried expression that made Sasuke smirk.

"Well?" The red head asked.

"You'll live." Ryuujin stated with a mocking glint in his eyes and stood up.

She exploded. "That's all you have to say for yourself?! You blew a fucking hole in my fucking leg, dammit!"

He shrugged. "I was confident you were all skilled enough to avoid my attacks. I see Rya was correct when he said you haven't been training your physical abilities enough. If I had wanted I could of blown your leg off completely not just put a small hole in it. Consider it a reminder to train harder for next time."

She huffed, but her anger seemed to have deflated at the comment.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked as the blond haired teen started laughing. "What? What's so funny?"

"This guy is our sensei!" He responded. Sasuke scowled, he didn't get what was so funny about that. "Think about it. Fire jutsu are your clan's specialty right? Well think about how much he can teach you. You'll be able to crush you brother like a fly."

Ryuujin closed his eyes. "I doubt that..."

Naruto blinked and turned to stared at the man. "Huh?"

"Itachi is at the very least my equal in skill if perhaps not in raw power. Chances are his abilities far exceed my own. He does possess the fully unlocked power of the Sharingan after all and that alone makes him an incredibly dangerous enemy. If you also include the fact that he is the most talented Sharingan user since the Uchiha clan's founder... well..." Ryu didn't finish.

"So we have to be stronger then you?" Tayuya asked.

For a moment Ryuujin was silent as he looked them over. The golden snake slit eyes focusing on them each in turn. "Perhaps... but perhaps not. Not all battles are determined by power or technique alone. Intelligence and opportunity also play a large role. As does luck. And as strong as Itachi is he too has his weaknesses. We simply need to find them."

"Then we will." Sasuke said darkly.

"Yeah, we are gonna kick his ass!" Naruto agreed with a smirk.

"Yes, I believe we might." Ryu replied with an amused smile. "You have the rest of the day off. Tomorrow we will work on your tactical skills instead of your combat abilities to give your bodies a break. We will meet in training field nine at six tomorrow afternoon. Tayuya I believe you know the way."

Tayuya nodded, but still shot a scowl towards her two teammates.

"Good." Ryuujin stated. "I will see you then." He vanished without any warning. Rya shrugged, waved goodbye to them, and disappeared as well.

The three teens stood there for a second then regarded each other.

"What now?" Naruto asked.

"What do you mean what now?" Tayuya asked. "_I_ am going to eat. Later idiots."

Naruto blinked and started following her. "Mind if we come with you..."

"Yes, I do." She growled and glared at Naruto in such a manner he should of turned to ash instantly.

Naruto was of course utterly unphased. "Come on, Tayuya-chan, I am hungry and I have_no_ idea where any good food stands are."

"I don't ca..." Tayuya paused then spun around, one eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "Did you just say Tayuya-_chan_?"

Naruto stopped dead. Realization dawned on his face and he raised his hands defensively. "I uuuhh..."

"I should kill you!!" The red head shouted and grabbed him by the neck.

Sasuke sighed after watching for a minute or two. "We really do need someone to show us around, Tayuya."

The girl glared at him hard enough to make the dark eyed Uchiha flinch. She looked back at Naruto, who was currently a color some where between blue and purple, and after a moments contemplation dropped him. "Fine, as long as you two are buying."

"Fair enough." Sasuke said with a shrug.

Naruto sat up and said cheerfully. "It's a date then."

Tayuya just nailed him on the head for the tenth time that day. "Idiot..."

Sasuke didn't miss the small smile that crossed her lips though...

- A/N -

Kibaku -insert object- no Jutsu - Exploding -whatever- Technique - Causes the target object to explode after it has been overloaded by fire type chakra. Has about the same effect and force as a frag grenade.

Katon: Houka Kadou - Fire Release: Fire Vortex - Creates a spinning pillar of flames around the user. Lasts only for a few seconds unless the user puts a lot of chakra into it, but is hot enough to kill anything caught in the flames and drives remaining enemies back. Reaches an unbelievable height and often disappears into clouds. The color of the fire seems to change depending on the user. Ryuujin's is white with black edges.

Katon: Naraku Houka - Fire Release: Hell Fire - Discharges a massive amount of fire chakra from the users hands into the ground. The chakra then travels across the ground at a high speed towards its intended target(s) giving off a bright glow as it does. Once it reaches the target the chakra explodes into a pillar of fire similar to the Houka Kadou. The color of the fire seems to change depending on the user. Ryuujin's is white with black edges.

Katon: Kaen Ineruno - Fire Release: Blazing Inferno - Super hot flames shoot from the users hand in a flame thrower like manner. The jutsu lasts for as long as the user's puts chakra into it, but over use can quickly fatigue people with low chakra reserves. Surprisingly chakra effective when compared to the amount of destruction it can cause. The color of the fire seems to change depending on the user. Ryuujin's is white with black edges.


	9. The First Mission

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 8: The First Mission

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking

'Sample' Human thinking

"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word

"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking

**'Sample' **Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

Oh man, I am sssoooo sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter up. -Holds up hands and screams- Wait don't hurt me I have a good reason! Really. My comp got a bug, a really bad one, and I had to reformat it. For those of you who don't know what that means it means I completely wiped the hard drive... including the new chapter, all my game data, everything. Stupid, stupid me didn't make a back up of it yet, so I had to start all over again. It was so depressing I couldn't bring myself to do it. -Sigh- But anyways here it is and after a long wait on with the show. That is all...

* * *

- Oto -

Naruto leaned back in his chair way too stuffed for his own good. Sasuke sat next to him glaring angrily at the five large bowls of ramen Naruto had just downed then glanced up at him.

"I am not paying for all that!" The Uchiha growled angrily.

Naruto laughed. "You only half to pay for half remember? A deal is a deal Sasuke."

The raven haired boy gritted his teeth in silent rage. Tayuya was staring at Naruto in something similar to amassment. She wasn't stuck paying for the blonde's seemingly endless appetite after all.

"Were the hell did you put all that? You are too short to eat like that and not explode!" She stared at him in disbelief.

Naruto leaned back in his chair laughing until the details of her statement hit home. "Wait a second, did you just call me short?"

"You are short..." The red head began absentmindedly.

"I am not short!" Naruto shouted at her. The girl instantly bristled in anger and stood knocking over her chair in the process.

"Short!" Tayuya shouted back causing Naruto to stand up and prove her point. He was shorter then she was by a good inch or two. She smirked triumphantly and crossed her arms.

Naruto scowled and opened his mouth. Sasuke covered his face as the angry, and soon to be dead, blond dug his own grave. "Well maybe you are just freakishly tall."

She growled like an enraged cat and pounced across the table tackling him, breaking one of the table legs as she did. Sasuke stared through his fingers as the two wrestled on the ground. Well, wrestling implied it was a fight. It was more like Tayuya throttling Naruto while he desperately tried to escape. Sasuke glanced at the counter hoping the owner hadn't noticed the broken table. Unfortunately the man had noticed, fortunately he seemed too frightened of Tayuya to ask for someone to pay for the table at the moment. That probably would not last for long though.

'Perfect time to get the hell out of here.' Sasuke thought and nudged Tayuya with his foot. She paused long enough to glare up at him.

"We gotta go!" He whispered desperately. "I am not paying for that table too!"

Her eyes widened in realization and she nodded. She glanced down at Naruto and he nodded. All at once the three of them scrambled for the door. They heard the restaurant owner shout something and a lot of people laughing. Without looking back they took off down the street at top speed.

They came to a skidding halt about twenty blocks away after randomly zig zagging through the streets and jumping a few roofs to make sure they weren't being followed. Hopefully there were other places to eat in Oto because they weren't going back to that one.

Sasuke glanced around after he caught his breath. 'This was the same street we came down the day we had arrived.'

Just as that thought filtered through his mind a voice that chilled him to the bone floated into his ears.

"Hey, if it isn't blondie and his cute friend." A horrifyingly familiar female voice said right behind them.

Slowly, Sasuke and Naruto turned to see a pack of girls standing behind them. A very familiar pack of girls.

'Not good!' Sasuke screamed mentally. This was the last thing they needed.

He glanced sideways at Naruto to see that the other teen was sweating bullets and looking around for an escape route. Tayuya on the other hand was just angry. Really angry. Her lips were pulled back in a silent snarl, her eyes practically glowed with rage, and her hair was almost as spiky looking as Naruto's.

"Fuck off!" She snapped.

The group of girls giggled and glared back at the same time. They weren't ninjas, at least not from what Sasuke could see, which was a lot, but there were quite a few of them.

'This could get ugly fast.' He thought and did exactly what Naruto was doing. He glanced around for an escape route and found none within easy reach. Slowly he shifted his hand towards his weapon pouch.

"Well, well, well did little Tayuya finally find someone willing to fuck her?" The lead girl asked, a redhead with long hair that went down to her shoulder in a spiky unkempt manner on one side and combed on the other. She was wearing what might have been a skirt and a belly top, they couldn't really tell for sure the since the clothing was so small it might have just been a thong and a bra.

Tayuya screamed wordlessly and lunged at the girl with a kunai, but Naruto grabbed her around the waist. "Fuck! Let go, fox boy! I am going to fucking kill them! Do you fucking hear me you bitch? I am going to fucking kill you!"

"Oh whoa, did I touch a nerve or what?" The redhead asked and laughed evilly. A small crowd was starting to gather nearby to watch the soon-to-be fight.

"Sasuke, a little help here?" Naruto gasped, straining as he tried to reach for the kunai and hold his enraged teammate back at the same time. Sasuke moved to grab the weapon.

Before he was even half way to Naruto and Tayuya the red haired group leader was right in front of his two teammates with a knife at Tayuya's throat. All three of them froze.

"Come on, Tayuya, give me a reason." She hissed. Tayuya seethed silently and the girl laughed again. The sound was beginning to get annoying.

"Back off." Naruto whispered coldly. He hadn't moved from holding Tayuya's waist, but his eyes were ice cold, killing intent leaking from him in a steady stream. Sasuke shivered slightly. Something about his blond teammates glare reminded him of Ryuujin's.

"Or what?" The lead girl asked. In the blink of an eye Naruto moved. Grabbing the blade of the knife with his bare hand and ripping it from the girl's grip. Tayuya took a swing at the other redhead with her kunai, but she managed to jump back toward her friends.

Sasuke drew his own weapon as he noticed all the girls now had a variety of weapons. Everything from kunai to small swords. He realized these girls were not just common street rift raft. They weren't exactly trained fighters, at least he didn't think so, but they weren't bad either and they defiantly had the advantage of numbers here. Add to that he couldn't really use any of his fire jutsu or he could hit an onlooker and they were in a real problematic situation. If it came down to a fight it would be up to Naruto and his clone jutsu.

'This day just keeps getting better!' He thought dismally as he again looked for an easy escape point.

"I would suggest you young ladies move along. I wouldn't want to have to scar those pretty faces of yours." A voice said behind the group and they spun around to face the speaker.

A kunai spinning lazily on one finger, a cocky smile, and ice cold eyes that screamed he was all business at the moment. Kabuto stood staring at the group of girls in a way that made most of them shiver. Unfortunately the leader wasn't so easily intimidated.

"If it isn't Kabuto-hentai. What do you want?" The tall leader asked now glancing between the three ninja in front of them and the single one behind. She was running their odds of winning a fight through her head.

The three teammates made a loose formation. Getting into a combat posture with weapons ready. Naruto was flexing the hand he had used to grab the knife as small drops of blood hit the ground. Despite the injury he looked more then willing to fight.

The odds had just turned in their favor.

"I want you and your friends out of my sight." The silver haired man spoke in a friendly voice even as he stop spinning his oddly curved kunai and took a firm grip on the weapon. "Now."

The blond made to open her mouth again, but Kabuto cut her off. "You might be able to handle one elite ninja, but four? You must be felling very lucky today, Karin."

"Four?" The redhead, apparently Karin, glanced at the three of them in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me these brats are elites? Where are their uniforms then?"

Kabuto shrugged. "Where is mine?"

The group was loosing their nerve. Sasuke slipped his foot forward into a more aggressive stance. Tayuya and Naruto followed his lead. Naruto even went as far a summoning a small gang of shadow clone all with weapons ready.

This caused a small gasp from the group of girls. They looked like they all wanted to run for it, but Karin still refused to back down. She scowled and drew another knife.

"Matter of fact," Kabuto continued nonchalantly raising his weapon to scratch the back of his head, "they aren't just any elites, they are Ryuujin-sama's students. Surely you knew Tayuya-san is his student? Karin and friends meet Team Ryuujin. Probably the most promising elite team in Oto. Orochimaru-sama would not be happy to learn you were pestering them and I know exactly how Ryuujin-sama would react."

The girls took a step back and glanced between Team Ryuujin on one side and Kabuto on the other. As a group they made a run for it pushing, cursing, and kicking as the attempted to get away. Kabuto sighed in annoyance and walked up to them.

"Sorry about that. Those girls are used to having their way with whoever they feel like." He said apologetically.

"No problem, Kabuto-san." Naruto said without thinking and blinked. Saying the man's name in a friendly way still sounded weird to him.

Tayuya shifted nervously and glanced over her shoulder at him a light blush creeping up her cheeks. "uuummm... Naruto-kun, you're bleeding..." She said as if it was embarrassing some how.

He glanced down at the hand he had grabbed the knife with and shrugged. "It's just a scratch."

"I better look at that." Kabuto said and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He grabbed Naruto's hand without waiting for a response and glanced over the cut and mumbled something. Then he raised his other hand, which started glowing green, and placed it on the injury. A few seconds later he took a step back and nodded. "Good as new. Next time be more careful though Naruto-kun. You almost cut the tendons, even I have trouble fixing things like that."

"It... it wasn't that bad..." Naruto denied and glanced at Tayuya. She was staring at him and blushing at the same time. They quickly looked away from each other turning red.

Sasuke smirked and managed to keep from laughing at them. It was even more fun watching Naruto and Tayuya together then it had been watching Naruto try to hit on Sakura. The Uchiha turned to address Kabuto. "Thanks, Kabuto, but we really should get going. We have training tomorrow..."

Kabuto turned away with a wave. "No problem. I know how that goes. Best of luck. Don't let Ryuujin-sama train you to death." He cut a corner and disappeared.

The three stared at each for a moment before silently moving on. The rest of the walk back to the main compound was annoyingly uneventful. They didn't even see any other people. It was like the entire village was avoiding them.

Sasuke sighed when he realized that was a distinct possibility. Not only were they the students of the commander of the elite ANBU, but it appeared Kabuto, Orochimaru's unofficial right hand man, had personally come to their aid. No one in their right mind would bother them unless they had a very, very good reason.

They enter the main doors of the hideout. The same guards that had been there the first day saluted them as they entered. Only Naruto took any notice, giving them a mild wave to allow them to go at ease. The guards relaxed, but still stood perfectly straight. They were the students of the commander after all and any disrespect towards the students could be viewed as disrespect towards the teacher. Making their commander angry even in the slightest was not on these guys to do list.

They reached their private wing of the compound and stood outside their rooms for a few minutes talking quietly to each other. Nothing important really came up. Tayuya complained about how those girls were whores who should be executed. Naruto wondered what kind of training they would be in for tomorrow. Sasuke just leaned against a wall and talked when he felt like it. After about twenty minutes Tayuya finally decided it was getting too late.

"I'll see you two idiots tomorrow." She said with a wave and headed for her room, but paused just before she closed the door. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Huh?" The blond looked in her direction for a second stopping the conversation he was having with his raven haired teammate.

"Come here for a second." She muttered.

Naruto grimaced, guessing she was going to hit him for something, but walked towards her anyways. Trying to get away just made it worse when she caught him. "What?" He asked again.

As he walked towards her he stole a quick glance in her room. It looked exactly like his and Sasuke's right down to the desk in the corner. The only difference was that Tayuya had a mirror and flowers on her desk and her bed sheets were a bright red that matched her hair instead of the grey and black that both boys had.

The flowers surprised him a little. She didn't seem like the type that liked flowers. Red roses. He was going to remember that. Something Kakashi had told him once about how every girl had a specific flower she really liked and giving said girl that kind of flower made them like you too. He was so focused on looking her room over he didn't realize how close he was too her. He stopped absentmindedly just short of running into her.

As soon as he stopped Tayuya leaned over and gave him a quick light kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Naruto was so caught off guard he could only stare at her. His electric blue eyes met her dark brown ones for a split second before they both started blushing.

"What was..." Naruto began just before she slammed the door in his face, "that for?" He finished. He looked at Sasuke in utter confusion. The young Uchiha just stared at him looking like he couldn't decide if he should laugh or faint. After a second the other teenager shook his head and shrugged. Naruto slowly raised a hand and touched his cheek.

'Have to be dreaming...' He thought. 'There is no way that just happened...'

He heard Kyuubi growl in his mind, but it wasn't the sinister sound the fox normally made. **'I like her.' **The bijuu stated bluntly.

A bunch of images suddenly flashed through Naruto's mind and his red faced turned even redder. 'Cut it out!'

**'I guess you like her to.'** It laughed in its inhuman voice, but at least the images stopped. The fox didn't speak again.

"Later, dobe." Sasuke barked already half way down the hall.

Blinking to bring himself back to reality, Naruto glared at the other boy's back. After a moment of thought he sprinted to catch up. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Training. I need to clear my head after today." He responded in a bored way.

"Mind if I come along?" Naruto muttered. He needed to clear his head alright and work some unexpected stress out of his system.

**'That's one way of doing it.'** Kyuubi whispered. **'You could also just go back to the girl's room and see if she will...'**

'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!' Naruto screamed mentally. What the hell was wrong with this fox?!

It chuckled at him. **'If you really want to know, I haven't...'**

'No, I don't want to know! Shut up!' He thought utterly panicked by the fox's line of thought.

Sasuke was watching Naruto from the corner of his eye as they walked toward their private training room, the same they had first met Ryuujin in. A flurry of emotions were flashing across the blonde's face so quickly it made Sasuke worried for his friend's sanity. Maybe Tayuya's little... display of affection had tipped Naruto over a mental cliff?

"You alright, Naruto-kun?" Sasuke asked real concern in his voice.

The blond shook his head again. "Yeah, fine just... just arguing with myself about something." He smiled weakly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he didn't press the matter. As they neared the last corner to the training room they heard two distinct and familiar voices.

"...about your students then?" A serpent like voice questioned. Orochimaru.

"Correct." Came the emotionless reply. Ryuujin.

Sasuke signaled Naruto to stay quiet and pointed at the edge of the corner. Naruto nodded a moved to the corner in a crouch to peek around the edge allowing Sasuke to do the same while standing. Sure enough Ryuujin and Orochimaru were standing outside the training room talking quietly. Both boys strained to hear.

"The day after tomorrow I want to take them on their first real mission. An A rank if you can manage it, S rank if an A is not possible." Ryuujin said.

Naruto nearly gasped, but managed to control himself. Ryuujin-sensei thought they were ready for an S rank mission? He couldn't help smiling at the confidence the man had in them.

"You believe they can handle S rank already?" The other man asked, impressed despite himself.

"Correct." Ryuujin said again.

"Impressive..." Orochimaru crossed his arms and seemed to think. Slowly an utterly sinister smile crept over his face.

He glanced at Ryuujin. "I have the perfect mission for you. A rank, first thing tomorrow."

Ryuujin's eyes narrowed. "I said the day after, Orochimaru. I have training planned for them tomorrow."

The snake sannin waved at him dismissively. "It will take at least two days to get to the target at an easy pace. You can teach them whatever you had planned for tomorrow on the way and they will still have a day to rest."

Ryuujin shifted, then finally nodded. He was obviously not pleased, but he could not find a reason to refuse. "Very well."

"It is a simple infiltration mission. It should be easy for you and your team. I want you to gather information on an enemy village and then get out." Orochimaru smiled. He was hiding something.

"The objectives and target?" Ryuu asked in his emotionless tone.

"Objectives are simple. I want intel on the village's ninja. To be exact I want to know how many ninja of A class or better are currently there. Then get out. I want you to go unnoticed until you have the information, but once that is done you may use any means necessary to get you and your team out alive. Understood?" Orochimaru finished in a business like way.

"Perfectly. The Target?" Ryuu asked again his eyes narrowing.

"Konoha." Orochimaru said almost pleasantly.

Ryuujin went ridged. "This is unwise, Orochimaru."

"Is it? I don't see the..."

"What are you planning?"

"Me? I am not planning anything, Ryuu-kun." The sannin said innocently.

"Do not play games with me, _boy_! What do you seek to gain here?" The other man hissed.

"Only you can still call me boy, Ryuujin-_sama_. Everyone else that could is dead." Orochimaru laughed then shrugged. "Information and an amusing game to play. At the moment this looks to be a most amusing game indeed."

Ryuu took a step forward so that the two snakes were mere inches apart. The viper's amused expression dropped away instantly. "Be careful of what games you play, Orochimaru. If you play too often one day you will lose."

Orochimaru turned on his heel and began walking away with a dismissive wave. Thankfully, he was going in the opposite direction of Naruto and Sasuke. "Until that day comes..." He began, but Ryuujin cut him off. The man's golden snake eyes glowed menacingly above the rim of his cloak as he glared at the snake sannin.

"It will come sooner or later. It comes for us all in the end." Ryuu whispered. "You already felt it once. The cold creep of death as it slowly tore that rotted and twisted thing you call a soul out of you. Some day it will get more then just your arms, boy. Nothing last forever, Orochimaru. Immortality is nothing more then a dream and a fool's one at that."

The other man snarled wordlessly and stormed off down the hall. Their sensei stood silently outside the doors of the training room for a few minutes, then marched inside. A few seconds later a massive explosion shook the entire village as the man vented his frustration on some unfortunate piece of floor or wall.

Slowly the two boys crept away silently making it back to their rooms. They stood staring at each other with near identical lost expression.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow." Naruto said.

"Yeah." Sasuke responded.

Naruto crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling for what seemed hours. How could this happen? Why would Ryuujin-sensei accept it? Why?

"Orochimaru..." He whispered aloud.

Ryuujin wasn't the leader of this village. If he defied orders without a good reason he would be kicked out or killed and that would leave his team at Orochimaru's mercy. Maybe Ryuu could fight an entire village of ninja off long enough for the three of them to escape, maybe... Naruto wasn't sure. It seemed he wasn't willing to risk it. He wasn't willing to risk them.

Naruto cursed the snake sannin with all his heart. Some how he would make that viper pay for this.

Slowly sleep finally overcame him. His slumber that night wasn't pleasant or peaceful though. He saw images of Konoha in flames, much like during the Sand-Sound invasion, but this time was different. Instead of an army attacking the village it was only four people. And these four people were winning.

He saw Sasuke, his curse mark covering his entire body, his Sharingan burning with its full power killing several teams of Konoha ninja at once. He saw Tayuya sitting almost nonchalantly on a ledge over looking a battle, her haunting melody commanding her three demons to slaughter a group of civilians.

He even saw himself, much to his horror. Eyes the same color as the blood that dripped from his hands. A dim red aura of chakra clung to him in the shape of a fox. Kyuubi's chakra. He was facing off against Sakura and Kakashi, both looking at him in utter terror. A scream echoed out over the battle and all eyes turned to it.

What they saw was a true nightmare. Ryuujin, standing silently, his eyes burning with unleashed power and his body wreathed in flames so hot they melted the very ground he stood on. An endless sea of molten rock and fiery air, a truer image of hell Naruto had never seen. In his grasp held Tsunade, the Hokage of Konoha. She struggled desperately to free herself, but the insurmountable pain caused by the flames made it impossible for her to focus her chakra enough to free herself from the crushing hold on her throat.

"This ends now." Ryuujin said in a whisper that carried across the entire village.

A massive pillar of black and white flame consumed both figures. Tsunade screamed...

Naruto shot bolt upright in an instant. The image of his nightmare still fresh in his mind. He was covered in sweat and was far more tired now then when he had gone to sleep. He stole a glance at the clock on his desk. 1:00 A.M. They wouldn't be getting up for several hours yet. He threw himself on his back and waited for sleep to claim him again. He hoped the dreams would not return.

* * *

- Konoha -

Sakura was sitting quietly on one of the poles in Training Ground 7. She came here quiet often, Kakashi came with her sometimes. Here he could remember both Obito and his lost students. Today she had come alone though, but it didn't really matter. Kakashi would be around sooner or later. He came everyday to pay his respects to his lost friend and to remember Naruto and Sasuke. He even had hopes that the two would leave and come back someday, not as enemies, but the friends they had been.

She got a very distinct image of a very young Naruto being tied up to the very pole she was sitting on. It made her laugh slightly.

"Yo, Sakura." A mild voice greeted from the pole to her left.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei." She said without even looking. She knew it was him. They were the only ones who came out here any more.

"We have a mission tomorrow." Kakashi said mildly as he made himself comfortable on top of the pole next to hers.

Sakura smiled slightly. He was worried about her. He always was lately. She was the last of his three students and he didn't want to lose her too. "It's about time. Tsunade-sensei is too over protective. She should have sent us out on missions again a long time ago. You're probably almost broke by now."

He waved off her concern in a nonchalant way. "Hardly, I was an ANBU remember. You make a lot of money running A and S rank mission every other week. Besides it's not all Tsunade's fault. I had to find us some temporary teammates and I wasn't exactly going about it as fast as I should have."

Sakura glanced at him in surprise. "Did you actually just take responsibility for being lazy? Oh my god, I didn't have a recorder!"

"Sakura, how could you call your sensei lazy?" He asked in a mock hurt voice. "That was completely uncalled for!"

After a second of staring at each other they both started laughing. Tsunade acted in a similar way around them now. They had all become quite close. It was funny really. Loss, stress, and emotional shock really do draw people together.

"So," Sakura asked as she regained her breath, "what is the mission."

"Just a patrol, nothing too serious. It will pay pretty well for relatively little work." He said leaning his head on one hand as if thinking about something. "I thought it would be a good idea to get you back running missions with a simple B rank."

"Unless we run into an enemy. We are at war after all." Sakura mumbled.

Kakashi smirked knowingly under his mask. "I doubt we will. It's a close proximity patrol. Only goes about a mile away from the village."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said it was a B rank mission."

The white haired man shrugged. "Well, normally it would only be a C rank at the very best, but as you said we are at war… that and Tsunade-sama pulled some strings..."

Sakura stared at him for a few seconds then smiled slightly. 'Tsunade-sama...'

"I have to go get everything ready for the mission, Sakura. Meet back here tomorrow, same time." Kakashi said and stood up.

"Hold on!" She said before he could vanish in a puff of smoke like he so enjoyed doing. "Who are our teammates going to be?"

"Oh, almost forgot didn't I?" He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. She just scowled at him. "Ino Yamanaka and Shikimaru Nara are going to be joining us for the next few missions. Asuma gave them the month off, seems he got some kind of nasty virus, poor guy got quarantined in the hospital and everything, and they volunteered. Guess easy money and helping a friend are enough motivation for anyone, even a Nara."

"A loud mouth blond and a lazy brat, great." The pink haired girl mumbled in annoyance.

"Sounds a little familiar doesn't it?" Kakashi asked sadly.

"Yeah, it does." She said and leaned back.

"Tomorrow then, Sakura." Kakashi said with a wave and vanished.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Before she knew it she was slipping into bed. Sleep was finally coming easy to her, but the same dreams always came back. She was so used to them now that they barely registered any more. Tonight, though they were a little different. Tonight along with Naruto and Sasuke there was a giant snake made out of white and black fire.

Tonight the demonic Naruto and cold Sasuke didn't attack her or anyone she knew. Tonight they just stared at her silently. Tonight it was the snake that whispered to her. Words she didn't quiet hear, promises she didn't really understand. Then all three vanished into darkness and for the first time in what seemed ages she slept free of nightmares.

The only thought that came to her sleeping mind was how weird it was to talk to a snake made out of fire…

* * *

- A/N -

There it is. Again sorry it took so long. That is all...


	10. Reasons

Naruto: Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 9: Reasons

- A/N -

"Sample" Human talking

'Sample' Human thinking

"_Sample_" someone putting extra meaning in a word

"**Sample**" Demon or demonic jinchūriki speaking

**'Sample' **Demon talking in a jinchūriki's head

TheBarefootBandit - I am not really a huge fan of Sasuke's eitherr, but when I thought about it I realized I did like him before Orochimaru sunk his fangs into him (literally). So really I suppose, for me at least, it's Orochimaru's influence on Sasuke I don't like. I know what you mean about random people in fics that show up just to be killed within that same paragraph. I hate that too so you will be happy to know that I won't do that too often unless the people are literally utterly random unnamed ninjas. Anyone that gets named stays around for a while at least. And Jiraiya will be in here, rest assured. P.S. It is impossible to bore me, I have literally watched paint dry... and I am convinced staring at it does make it dry faster.

Adele19 - I figured it was time I slip an "Aaaaawwwww" moment in there. I couldn't resist.

Hebi R. - no problem I know how it goes.

Kyuubi Fanatic - Oh Ryuu does know that Naruto has the fox and Naruto does know that Ryuu knows because of Rya. That doesn't mean that Ryuu knows that Naruto knows he knows... follow me?

Libello - I am working on the "missing chapters" and hopefully they won't be missing for much longer. And don't worry romance there will be, but it needs to finishing budding before it can actually blossom.

Sorry, this took so long (again), but life is cruel and I don't have as much time to work on ths story as I once did. Don't worry I _am _going to finish it, but it will take longer then expected. To those that reviewed thank you, to those that haven't thanks for reading I hope you decide to review this time. On with the show, please do enjoy your stay. That is all...

* * *

- Oto, Field Nine -

Naruto sighed in a depressed manner as the three teenage members of Team Ryuujin trudged through the dark forest that surrounded Oto. Sasuke was grumbling in a similar manner to his right. Tayuya glared at them both, they hadn't told her about what they had heard last night so she thought they were just sulking about today's training. Honestly Naruto didn't really think Tayuya would care about the mission, she had already been in Konoha several times for missions after all.

Ahead they could see a clearing that Naruto guessed was field nine. As they got closer his guess was confirmed when they spotted Ryuujin pacing back and forth near a large recently half-melted and still smoking boulder and Rya sitting on another one not far away. The moment they walked out of the forest into the training ground Ryuujin stopped pacing and turned to regard them, probably thinking about how he was going to tell him and Sasuke where the mission was going to take place.

Tayuya started walking right to the dark haired man calling out a happy, "Good morning." To which Ryuujin nodded and Rya waved. Naruto and Sasuke both lagged a little in reaching their sensei and red headed team mate.

"Now that you are here," Ryuujin began, "I will tell Tayuya what you two already know."

It took a few seconds for Naruto to fully understand that sentence and when it sank in he gaped at the man. 'He knew we had been watching?! How? When did we give ourselves away?' Suddenly a sick sinking feeling hit Naruto in the stomach. 'If Ryuujin-sensei had known we were there then maybe Orochimaru had known too. Maybe he had only picked this mission because we were there...'

"What do you mean what they already know?" Tayuya asked, then turned to them angrily. Naruto flinched as her angry eyes locked right on his. "You were hiding something from me?!"

"Calm yourself, Tayuya. They had their reasons." Ryuujin said almost robotically. "We are going to be running an infiltration mission in Konoha. The objective is only information gathering, but this is still an A rank mission considering our at war status."

"K... Konoha?" Tayuya gasped. "You have to be fucking kidding." She glanced at Naruto and Sasuke. "We can't 'infiltrate' Konoha with these two on the team! Someone will recognize them for sure! We will just end up getting killed!"

Ryuu closed his eyes. "I understand the risks perfectly, Tayuya, but this mission was given to us by Orochimaru personally. We have very little choice in the matter." Tayuya mumbled something under her breath that even Naruto's sensitive hearing couldn't catch. "Do not worry I have already thought out some possibilities for hiding our presence."

"But..." Tayuya looked worriedly at her two teammates. "Ryuujin-sensei..."

"I understand your concern, Tayuya." Ryuujin looked at the two of them as well. "Believe me when I say it is shared."

Naruto sighed. He figured he knew what was bothering them so he decided to just get to the point. "We aren't going to suddenly turn against you, promise."

Ryuujin blinked, then much to Naruto's utter bewilderment he actually chuckled. "That was not my concern, Naruto-kun."

"Then what..?" The blond started asking, but was cut off by Tayuya who was standing with her hands on her hips in an annoyed way.

"I swear Sasuke is right, you really are a dobe." The redhead sighed in exasperation. "We are worried about _you, _not about you changing sides in the middle of a fight. It's your old village. Doesn't this bother you?"

"Well, yeah, but sometimes that happens..." Naruto mumbled and looked down at the ground in front of him. "Ninja don't always get missions they agree with, but that doesn't mean they just can't do them. Right?" He looked at Sasuke.

The dark eyed teenager nodded. "Right." He said with a smirk. "Maybe you aren't such an idiot after all."

Both boys turned back to Tayuya and Ryuujin with confident faces. Ryuujin nodded approvingly. "We are leaving in an hour. Go get your gear and meet at the east gate." He disappeared in a puff of smoke and Rya dissolved into liquid and disappeared. The three teammates looked at each other and nodded. It was time to get going.

* * *

- Konoha -

"Well, at least it should be easy money." Ino said and crossed her arms. "What is the worst that could happen?"

Sakura scowled at her oldest friend. "Don't make me answer that. I can think of several things that could go wrong."

"That's just because you're a pessimist." Ino said with a mocking glint in her eyes.

Sakura bristled. "I am not a pessimist, Ino-pig!"

"What did you just call me?!" The blond shot back.

"You heard me!"

"I should rip you apart you little..."

Shikamaru decided now would be a good time to zone the two girls out. Their pointless bickering always gave him such a headache. He sighed in annoyance, girls were so troublesome. Add to that the fact that Kakashi was nearly an hour late and you had yourself a real annoying situation.

He glanced around one more time to see if their team leader was coming then shrugged and decided to make himself comfortable. He flopped down in a shady patch of grass next to the village gate and stared skyward trying his best to completely ignore the two fighting girls. Which was a very difficult task, Ino seemed utterly intent on ripping Sakura's face off by pulling her nose and Sakura had a firm grip on Ino's pony tail.

He sighed again. 'Why did I sign up for this again? No amount of money was worth dealing with the two of them for more then five minutes much less five days.' Easy. That was the word used to sucker him into this. It would be easy, just a short range patrol with higher then normal pay. No worries. Kakashi forgot to mention that Ino and Sakura would be within thirty feet of each other the entire time and so would be spitting insults or glaring.

Oh well, nothing to do now except wait for their apparently chronically late leader to arrive. He had been slightly surprised at first when the jonin wasn't here when they arrived. Then he was even more surprised when he wasn't here when it was time to leave. Now for some reason an hour later he wasn't surprised at all when a loud pop and a puff of smoke signaled the jonin's arrival.

"Sorry about that, guys, some lady asked me to help her carry groceries in and..." Sakura cut him off.

"You're a terrible lair Kakashi-sensei!" The pink haired girl growled.

The masked ninja coughed. "Well then why don't we just get going?"

Shikimaru sighed. He had just got comfortable too. How troublesome. Oh well, might as well get this little camping trip underway. At least it would pay well and minus Ino and Sakura it should be relatively easy...

* * *

- Oto -

"You do know how bad of an idea this is, right?" Rya asked his pale skinned creator. They were in one of the training rooms, alone. Ryuu always some how found a room that was empty when he didn't want company. Rya just didn't care if he wanted company or not, he was going to talk to his creator about this crap mission.

"Yes." Ryuujin replied robotically.

"Then why are we even doing it? It could break those kids, Ryuujin. We might even have too..."

Ryuu's fist slammed into the wall in front of him causing it to exploded in a shower of red hot pebbles. He shouted in a voice that sounded like a wildfire given form and meaning. "Don't you think I know that already?!" After a moment of heavy silence the man raised his hand and stared at it. "I know the risks well, Rya. Kami knows I have been running them the entirety of my very long life."

Rya sighed and crossed his arms. "All that time though it was only your own life you were playing with. This time it's different. Those kids are your responsibility. They are trusting you with their lives."

The original continued to stare at his hand until finally closing it into a tight fist. "I know that. Which is why we have to do this. I won't risk them in some pointless game of defiance. I am far too old for such childishness."

"You sure you're not playing a game anyways?"

"Life is a game and one that in the end you always lose. The only thing you can do is evaluate the chances of success with your current objective."

"So you put your faith in a couple of kids you haven't even known for a month instead of putting faith in yourself?" Rya sneered.

Ryuujin sighed. "You don't have any faith in them do you?"

Rya snorted and leaned against the opposite wall. He was an uncaring and partially insane monster made out of human blood and he knew it. He had no qualms about telling his creator exactly how he felt. "I have faith in what they could become, not in what they are now."

"That is because you can't understand humans. You are just an interpretation of humanity not the actuality."

Again Rya snorted in an uncaring manner. "So what? Even if I am a fake I can still see what is and what isn't a good idea and taking those two back to their home is just asking for trouble."

"You overlook even the simplest of things, Rya." Ryuujin crossed his arms in thought as he stared blankly into wall. "You put faith in logic alone, if how you think could be called logic, and if I did the same I would have to agree with you here. It would seem like a better idea to attempt to run, rather than to risk them turning against us for the sake of a memory, but I have respect for them. Respect for who they can become _and_ respect for who they are now. That is all I need to put my faith in them."

"Respect?" Rya snapped, finally having enough of his creator's philosophical attitude. "You haven't known them long enough to have respect for them! You just met them as far as this is concerned! If I were you I would just..."

Rya cut off as his creator turned to face him. His normally cold, emotionless eyes practically glowing with restrained anger and elemental energy. "But you are not me, not really. I made you that way on purpose. But I admit I have not known Sasuke-kun very long, certainly not long enough to trust him in a situation like this, but Naruto..." Ryuujin's eyes became unfocused as memories came back to him from a time that seemed almost ages ago.

* * *

_'Hey, Ryuu-kun,' A tall blond man called as he swaggered up to him, 'glad you could make it. Wouldn't be much of a party without your crystal clear logic to kill the buzz would it?' The man asked with a laugh._

_'I still fail to see the issue with my inability to get drunk...' He responded._

_'That's the issue exactly! You need to get drunk at least once in your life and I swear to Kami I will find out how much it takes for you even it ends up being all of Miuro's stores!' Ryuujin opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off._

_'Minato, aren't you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?' A female voice asked drawing their attention to it. The mentioned shinobi instantly drew the young lady into an embrace. After he set her down she was blushing deeply and mumbled something about not being so affectionate in public._

_Ryuujin noted that the young woman was strikingly beautiful. Possessing long seemingly perfectly straight red hair, deep emerald green colored eyes, and what he would of guessed to be considered a flawless body. On her forehead was the headband of a ninja from the Land of the Whirlpool._

_'Ryuu-kun this is my future wife Kushina Uzumaki, Kushina-chan may I introduce the world famous Hisaki no Ryuujin!" The big blond said with all the formality of a bard introducing a great king._

_The young woman's eyes opened wide in surprise and she made a fumbling attempt at a handshake. Ryuujin politely returned the gesture._

_'It's... it's an honor to meet a ninja as skilled as you, sir.' She stuttered. _

_Minato rolled his eyes and chuckled. 'Hey, what about me? I fought him to a draw after all!' His chest puffed up in pride._

_'You probably just got lucky.' Kushina said bluntly causing Minato to deflate like a balloon with a hole in it. His young friend looked to him for confirmation of the deed._

_Ryuujin chuckled lightly and nodded. 'Boastful as Minato is at times, he did battle me to a draw. I would be lying if I did not say he is one of the best shinobi I have ever had the pleasure of facing.'_

_'There see, straight from the man himself. Thank you, Ryuu-kun.' Minato gave a mock salute._

_Kushina glared at her soon to be husband. 'Don't get too full of yourself. There is always somebody better.'_

_Minato laughed. 'I know that, its rule number one after all. Go on, we will join you after we get done reminiscing about old battles, seeing who chopped more opponents in half, and other boring man things.'_

_The red head made a face and stuck her tongue out at Minato before politely saying goodbye to Ryuu._

_As soon as she was out of ear shot Minato turned to Ryuujin and grinned. 'Did I find myself a firecracker or what?'_

_Ryuujin watched his friend's young lady carefully for a minute or two. Eventually the blond frowned and poked his snaked eyed companion in the ribs. 'She is already taken Ryuu. Go find yourself another girl if you want some that bad.' The blond raised a glass of what Ryuujin assumed to be saki to his lips and started draining it in one go._

_Ryuu glanced at him then shrugged. 'She seemed more then willing...'_

_Minato coughed in his drink and turned a disbelieving stare at his old friend. 'Did you just make a joke?! In the name of Kami we are making progress! There is hope for you yet!'_

_Ryuujin smiled slightly and shook his head then became quite serious again. 'It is a boy, in case you were wondering.'_

_Again his friend half choked on his drink. This time so bad Ryuu had to smack him on the back._

_'What did you just say?' He wheezed._

_'Your child, it's a boy.' The dark haired man responded nonchalantly not even glancing towards his friend._

_'Why... when... how did you..?' Minato's eyes narrowed. 'You aren't going to tell me how you know when we haven't told anyone else are you.'_

_'No.' Ryuujin said flatly and took a drink from his own glass._

_'You're sure though? It's a boy?' Minato asked hopefully and he smiled when Ryuujin nodded. 'A son, huh?' _

_They sat quietly for a time just drinking together. After a while..._

_'Naruto!' Minato said with finality._

_Ryuujin raised an eyebrow at him. 'The hero from your sensei's books? It hardly seems appropriate for a child to be named after a...'_

_'Come on, it's perfect!' The blond almost shouted with joy._

_The snake eyed man shook his head. 'Naruto...' He thought about the name for a moment, it did seem right for some reason..._

* * *

_'Hey... Ryuujin... you made it...' Minato smirked up at him from the bed he was lying on. He was deathly pale. Ryuujin froze at the sight of his young friend._

_'What happened?' Ryuujin asked when he finally regained his self control at seeing one of his few true friends in such a state. The village outside had been a wreck, half of it was in flames and the rest was mostly rubble. Something horrible had happened..._

_'Kyuubi.' A tall white haired man in a red and white outfit said sadly while staring at the bed ridden blond with lost eyes. Jiraiya, Minato's sensei._

_As Ryuu got closer to Minato's bed he realized the man was in far worse condition then he had at first thought. He should by all rights be dead. His life aura flickered pitifully in Ryuu's unnatural sight, like a flame just before it went out. He looked at the young man with a sadness that was rare for him and asked a silent question._

_Minato laughed. 'I couldn't...' He coughed blood, an ANBU medic quickly began working on the big blond, but he waved the ninja off weakly. 'I couldn't beat it... so I sealed it with _that_ jutsu...'_

_Ryuujin didn't need to ask what jutsu, he had helped Minato develop it along with Jiraiya. 'You idiot...' The snake eyed man spoke softly. 'How are you still alive then?'_

_It was a fools hope, but maybe the big moron was just joking with him. By Kami please let him be joking! That jutsu was supposed to kill you instantly once the sealing was complete._

_'He wanted to see you.' Jiraiya said flatly. 'He refused to... to go...' The white haired man chocked on the words, 'until he got to talk to you.'_

_Ryuujin stared at the young man in disbelief. The pain he must be in had to be nearly unbearable._

_'You... always told me... I was a stubborn dobe... Ryuu-kun...' The blond wheezed and grinned again._

_'Minato-kun...'_

_'I don't...' Another cough and more blood. 'I don't have much time... Ryuu-kun... so I will... get right to it, yeah?'_

_Ryuujin just nodded. He couldn't find his words right now._

_'I had to seal... the fox in a person, Ryuu-kun.' Minato began. 'It was the only thing... I could do...'_

_'Naruto...' Ryuu said softly causing Minato to let off a rasping laugh._

_'You did always... always know how I thought, snake man...'_

_'What do you want me to do?' Ryuujin asked._

_Jiraiya straightened in alarm, apparently he hadn't known this was why Minato had waited for the serpent man. Only Minato would endure inhuman pain just to ask a favor. Ryuujin smiled weakly and kneeled down next to his friend, taking one hand in a firm hold. Minato smiled back, his fingers closing around Ryuujin's hand slowly._

_'I won't...' The cough this time brought more blood then the last two, he was getting worse. 'I won't tie you to this village... you would chase me to Hell just to beat me to death for... doing that to you... I want you to promise... if you ever meet Naruto on your travels... or if you ever come back here... would... would you teach him what you can? Would you train him for me?'_

_Ryuujin was silent for a moment before placing his free hand on his heart. 'I swear, Minato. What of Kushina?'_

_The blond shook his head and mumbled. 'Gone.' Then he turned to an older man that Ryuujin recognized as the Hokage from before Minato had taken over. 'Sarutobi ...' He wheezed and the old man came forward quickly. 'Looks like you get to be Hokage again, old man...'_

_'I take no pleasure in the knowledge, Minato.' Sarutobi spoke in a subdued voice._

_Again Minato laughed. 'I want you to promise me something... as well...' Sarutobi nodded slowly. 'Try and make the villagers see... see Naruto as the hero he is... not the monster he keeps at bay...'_

_'Yes...' The old man said simply._

_'Hey, sensei?' Minato asked as he looked up at the ceiling._

_Jiraiya smirked sadly. 'Yes, Blondie?'_

_'Sorry I never got to finish reading your new book... I hate that.. new characters guts though… the one with the birds nest hair cut… I hope you kill him off in the next book…' The blond said with a grin. Then the smile began to fade and he looked at Ryuujin one last time. 'Goodbye... Ryuu... -kun...'_

_Ryuujin watched the life aura flicker, fade, then it vanished. He saw the light drain from the bright blue eyes and closed his own to keep the tears from coming. Minato wouldn't want to be cried over. He opened his eyes again slowly, almost painful, and place Minato's hand on the bed at his side. With a heavy heart he closed the eyes of one of the greatest men he had ever met..._

* * *

"Ryuujin?" Rya asked worriedly.

Ryuu shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What?"

The blood clone blinked in surprise. Ryuu never lost his train of thought. "You were saying something about Naruto..."

Ryuu thought for a minute then shook his head again, slowly this time. "I have known Naruto a very long time, longer then you might think. Long enough that I know I can trust him with this."

Rya looked doubtful, but something about how his creator had said it kept him silent on his doubts for once. "If you say so, Ryuujin..."

- A/N -

Admittedly a lot of story and no action is really what is happening right now, but hey can you feel the suspense building. Guess what even I am not really sure what is going to happen on this mission, I have ideas but nothing is concrete. Until next time! That is all...


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